ARTICLE - UNREST FEARS

UNREST FEARS AFTER DISPUTED HAITI POLLS
(AFP) - By Stephane Jourdain

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti Monday faced fears of political unrest after rigging allegations marred polls to decide who will lead a nation gripped by cholera that was devastated by a disastrous January earthquake.

The streets of the normally teeming capital Port-au-Prince were eerily calm as election monitors from the Caribbean regional bloc CARICOM and the Organization of American States (OAS) mulled their verdict.

Twelve of 18 candidates vying to succeed President Rene Preval and take the reins of the poorest country in the Americas said the polls must be scrapped, alleging a conspiracy between the government and the election commission.

They accused the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) of being in cahoots with the ruling INITE (Unity) party, stuffing ballot boxes and intimidating voters to ensure victory for Preval's handpicked protege Jude Celestin.

His main rivals are former first lady and longtime opposition leader Mirlande Manigat, musician Michel Martelly, and Jean-Henry Ceant, who was backed by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party.

None of the candidates are expected to pass the 50 percent threshold needed for outright victory, instead forcing a run-off between the top two on January 16.

With first results not expected until December 5 at the earliest and no final announcement before December 20, the notoriously unstable Caribbean nation of 10 million faces an unsettling period of political limbo.

Haitian-born hip hop star Wyclef Jean, who was ruled ineligible to run but was in Haiti to support Martelly, warned of massive unrest if the international community did not step in.

"I strongly suggest that we bring in a credible international (body), somebody that has nothing to do with the Haitian government or the UN that can follow the process and make sure that every vote can be counted," Jean said.

"In 24 hours, if a decision is not made and we procrastinate, the country will rise to a level of violence we have not seen before."

Jean and Martelly led thousands of protesters through the streets of Port-au-Prince on Sunday night. But they were good-humored and there have been no indications yet that the situation is about to disintegrate.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which helped administer the polls, expressed "deep concern at the numerous incidents that marred the elections."

Aware that Haiti -- where anger abounds at the slow pace of quake reconstruction, at cholera, at Preval, at the inescapable poverty -- is a powder keg, MINUSTAH urged candidates and the populace to remain calm.

A statement late Sunday, issued in consultation with ambassadors from leading nations including France and the United States, noted the possible "dramatic consequences" of a deteriorating security situation.

The CEP has stood its ground, validating the election in all but 56 of the country's 1,500 polling stations and insisting that any voter fraud was minimal and isolated to about three percent of polling stations.

Election day violence was not extreme by Haitian standards. At least two people were killed by gunfire when rival groups clashed in southern Aquin town, and several other people were injured across the country, police said.

The polls were, however, dogged by threats and poor organization. Hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors were without the necessary ID cards and others had the right papers but didn't know where to vote.

Voting had to be scrapped in two northern towns after armed gangs fired volleys of gunshots into the air and ransacked half a dozen polling stations with machetes. A main voting station in the capital was also trashed when would-be voters couldn't find their names on the register.

In the grip of a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 1,700 lives, Haitians are choosing a successor to Preval, searching for someone to lead a nation shattered by a January earthquake that killed 250,000 people.

The Sorbonne-educated Manigat, a 70-year-old striving to become Haiti's first female president, had enjoyed a clear opinion poll lead from Celestin, the 48-year-old ruling party candidate who lives with Preval's daughter.

Martelly, a 49-year-old popular performer of Haitian kompa music known affectionately as "Sweet Micky," had been running third in the most-recent opinion polls, well ahead of the remaining contenders.