ARTICLE - TROUBLES ON THE HORIZON

TROUBLES ON THE HORIZON FOR HAITI VICTOR MARTELLY
(AFP) - By Clarens Renois

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti's next president Michel Martelly promised a "new era" for Haiti on Tuesday, but many troubles lie ahead and his landslide election win is looking like the easy part.

The 50-year-old former carnival entertainer and pop singer, known as "Sweet Micky" or Tet Kale (Bald Head), lit up the campaign, seizing the mantle of change and capturing the imagination of Haiti's frustrated urban youth.

"Haitian people, a new era has begun," Martelly told a victory press conference in the capital Port-au-Prince, urging the young to "raise their eyes to the rainbow of promised change."

But the political novice, who was stripping off on stage as a bawdy entertainer a year ago, has many a minefield to navigate if he is to match soaring rhetoric with the real change Haiti so desperately needs.

"I am proud to have been called to the service of my country. You have put your trust in me, the enfant terrible," he joked.

"You have trusted me to lead the country well, to leave the old demons and old quarrels of Haitian politics behind and to manage things differently. I am going to work with everyone, I am president of all Haitians."

Preliminary results of the March 20 run-off on Monday credited Martelly with 67.6 percent of the vote, more than double the showing for former first lady Mirlande Manigat. A period of legal complaint runs until April 16.

Manigat, who dreamed of becoming Haiti's first democratically elected female leader, said she was "outraged" for the country she loved and denounced an "electoral hold-up" but did not immediately challenge the results.

The significant margin of Martelly's victory should mean a peaceful transition but observers warn that his hope-filled campaign, laden with big promises, has raised expectations.

"This is the best result you could have expected in terms of the electoral process," Haiti expert at the University of Virginia Robert Fatton told AFP. "But the business of governing is a completely different ball-game."

The notoriously dysfunctional Caribbean nation was the poorest country in the Americas even before a January 2010 earthquake flattened Port-au-Prince and killed more than 225,000 people.

The pace of reconstruction has been glacial and a desperate populace, including hundreds of thousands of quake survivors crammed into squalid tent cities, is crying out for progress.

International donors pledged some $10 billion to help Haiti rebuild after the quake but many are wary of corruption and reluctant to honor their commitments until a trustworthy new administration is in place.

Martelly's immediate task will be to form a new government.

President Rene Preval's dominant Unity party surprised many in the legislative elections by failing to achieve a majority in parliament, but Martelly's Repons Peyizan party only won a handful of seats.

"The fact there is no majority might give Martelly the capacity to manipulate parliament so he can get things done," Fatton said. "The problem is we have no clue as to Martelly's capacity to deal with that kind of politics."

In his victory address Tuesday, Martelly offered "solemn thanks" to the international community for supporting the electoral process.

He was knocked out of the race in December only to be reinstated a month later -- thanks to massive US-led pressure -- after international monitors found massive fraud in favor of the ruling party candidate.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been damning of the Haitian leadership since the quake and husband Bill co-chairs the reconstruction commission that controls the purse strings of international aid.

"I think how Martelly deals in the short term with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton is going to be of great significance because he is not well known and he has to appear someone who can move the country forward," Fatton said.

The Haiti expert said opinions varied greatly about Martelly's capabilities but described a possible authoritarian streak and links to the former military as "worrisome."

Potential political time-bombs lying in store for Martelly are recently returned former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and three-time president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader.

Martelly could even invite both to his inauguration as a grand gesture of reconciliation.

"I don't think there is any middle-ground with Martelly," concluded Fatton. "Either he is going to be a catastrophe or he is going to surprise everyone and manage to lead the country in a very different direction."