ARTICLE - EXPERTS FRET OVER RUNOFF

EXPERTS FRET OVER HAITI'S RUNOFF ELECTION

(UPI) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Many Haitians and experts on the region say they expect the second round of presidential elections to be just as bruising as the first.

The challenge facing a March 20 runoff between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and musician Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly is ensuring Haitians still displaced from last year's devastating earthquake aren't disenfranchised as they were in November, when only 28 percent of the electorate voted, The New York Times reported Sunday.

"I'm pessimistic, considering the state the country is now in and the effort of transcendence that Haiti needs to really become engaged in reconstruction," said Michele Pierre-Louis, a former prime minister who heads the Open Society Institute in Haiti. "Unless there is something which I can't foresee, we're heading toward major problems."

International observers said the Nov. 28 election was marred by fraud and incompetence, resulting in delays and efforts by outgoing President Rene Preval to insert his hand-picked candidate, Jude Celestin, on the runoff ballot instead of Martelly. Observers protested and, after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the island, election officials put Martelly back on the runoff ballot and removed Celestin's name.

Jose Miguel Insulza, the Organization of American States secretary-general, said the challenge would be to create a better voting system for the March 20 runoff. The OAS would expand the number of international observers from 120 to 200 but most of the effort must come from Haitians, he said.

A review by the OAS found intimidation and potential fraud weren't limited to Preval's party and Celestin, Insulza said.

"The important thing is the quality of the workers in the polling places," he told the Times. "I'm not sure if in 40 days they will be able to do it."