ARTICLE - UN CALLS FOR CALM

UN CALLS FOR CALM IN HAITI AFTER VIOLENT POST-POLL PROTESTS
(RTTNews)

The 15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday called for calm in Haiti after the recent post-election violence in the impoverished Caribbean island nation, and expressed concerns over allegations of fraud in the disputed elections.

The UNSC statement issued after a Council meeting held Friday to discuss the situation in Haiti was read out to reporters outside of the Security Council Chambers by Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN who holds the rotating Council presidency for December.

"The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern at incidents of violence that have followed the announcement of preliminary election results," Rice said while reading out the UNSC statement.

"They called upon all candidates, their supporters, political parties and all other political actors to remain calm, refrain from violence or another provocations, and to resolve any electoral disputes through established legal mechanisms," she added.

"The members of the Council stress the importance of holding peaceful and credible elections as a critical element of Haiti's ongoing, recovery, reconstruction and development and they trust that with the support of the international community, the Haitian people will be able to bring the electoral process to a successful conclusion," the statement read.

The UNSC statement came a day after Haiti's electoral council ordered a recount of votes polled in last month's disputed presidential election, stressing that the process must be carried out in the presence of top three presidential candidates as well as Haitian and international observers.

The move was prompted by violent protests across Haiti after the electoral council announced the results of the November 28 presidential elections on Tuesday night. The protests continued through Wednesday and early Thursday with the Haitian police reportedly making no effort to stop them.

According to the results, opposition front-runner and former first lady Mirlande Manigat secured 31.37 per cent of the votes polled, pushing ruling party candidate Jude Celestin to the second position with 22.48 per cent votes. Popular musician Michel Martelly came in third with 21.89%, narrowly missing the run-off.

Following the announcement of the election results, thousands of Martelly's supporters took to the street in Port-au-Prince and suburbs, unleashing violence and demanding his inclusion in the second round. Martelly's supporters alleged the polls were rigged to ensure victory for the ruling party.

In late November, international monitors declared that Haiti's general and presidential elections were valid despite allegations made by several candidates that the polls were rigged. They, however, acknowledged that there had been widespread problems, including violence, poor organization and claims of fraud during the vote.

Thursday's order by the electoral commission to recount the votes came a day after it set January 16 as the date for the run-off polls between the two leading candidates, ignoring demands by 12 of the 18 presidential contenders to cancel the disputed November 28 elections.

The November elections were the fifth presidential election since the end of the Duvalier dictatorship. Elections were also held on the same date to nine seats in the Senate and 99 seats in the Lower House of Parliament.

Over 100 international observers were deployed throughout the country to monitor the electoral process, in addition to an estimated 7,000 Haitian electoral observers. As many as 912 candidates from 66 political parties contested the elections. Final results of the elections are expected to be announced on December 20.

Haiti, which has not yet recovered from the massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people in January, was faced with an outbreak of cholera that claimed more than 2,000 lives since October 19.