Election Results disputed

[bcholmes]

International observers began examining contested tallies from 19 legislative races Monday shortly after Haitian officials announced they would delay certification of results of last month's runoff election.

Colin Granderson, head of the election observer mission for the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community bloc, said he couldn't say how long it would take to sift through the results.

"It all depends on the seriousness of the dossier," he said

Scrutiny of the results comes after U.S. diplomats said last week they wanted a public explanation of how 17 Chamber of Deputies candidates and one Senate candidate were declared winners by Haiti's election commission with far more votes than they had when preliminary returns were announced April 4.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince said the legitimacy of the legislative races would be up in the air if Haitian officials didn't explain the results. The United Nations, which has a peacekeeping force in Haiti, also expressed concerns.

In a Monday statement, Gaillot Dorsinvil, president of Haiti's election commission, said the panel would delay publishing the results for 19 legislative races in the March 20 runoff "for the sake of transparency and in the best interests of the nation."

Dorsinvil didn't disclose any details about the 19th contested race, which was in addition to the 18 questioned by U.N. and U.S. diplomats. The new results announced last week gave the political party of outgoing President Rene Preval 46 of the 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and an absolute majority in the Senate with 17 of 30 seats. That kind of presence in parliament would give Preval's Unity party greater control over key government decisions, including who is approved as the next prime minister, Haiti's No. 2 official.

On Monday, Unity protesters set up flaming barricades in a Port-au-Prince slum, calling for the election results to be respected. U.N. peacekeepers later extinguished the fires.

"We won't lose our vote," Unity deputy candidate Daniel Saint-Hilaire said. Saint-Hilaire, whose bid for a seat was one of those in question, won 49 per cent of the votes in the runoff, according to the results announced last week. Preliminary results had shown him in second with 45 per cent of the vote, compared to 51 per cent for his rival.

— "Haiti delays certification of 19 legislative races after US, UN diplomats question results"

I can't imagine how anyone is going to be satisfied with the outcome of these elections.