Préval way ahead, may have won outright (Haitain presidential election)

[Freddie Stubbs]

With results from Haiti's presidential election trickling in, it was clear that former President René Préval was ahead, but it wasn't clear whether he would face a runoff.

By JACQUELINE CHARLES TRENTON DANIEL AND JOE [e-mail]-AU-PRINCE -

Ballot by ballot, the tallying of votes from Haiti's critical election proceeded slowly Wednesday amid signs that René Préval would finish a strong first in the presidential race.

It was not clear whether the former president and one-time supporter of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide would earn the 50 percent he needs to avoid a runoff March 19 against the second-place finisher.

But a Miami Herald look at several individual polling centers -- which post results on their outside walls -- in the capital and the port cities of Gonaves and St. Marc suggested Préval might win outright.

By 6 p.m. Wednesday, only 3 percent of the vote had been officially tabulated, and only 20 percent of the tally sheets from each of about 800 polling centers across Haiti's mountainous terrain had arrived at electoral headquarters in Port-au-Prince.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/haiti/13826645.htm

[wakeme2008]

1. The only question is how long will *

wait before sending in the Marines to escort him to a plane. :grr:

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. This democracy stuff

is not going the way W planned. He should have known better then to let people actually vote. Where's Diebold when you need them?

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Préval has already served one full term as President

His tenure was marked by economic growth and stability. There was little violence and unrest during that period. He must have been doing soemthing right.

[wakeme2008]

4. doing something right for the people is not

the same as having Bush happy with him.

[MrPrax]

6. Could be wrong?

But the economic growth under Preval was mainly due to the IMF loans, no?

When Aristide took power, Clinton cut him off aid (electoral irregularities, was the excuse for the 'full court press' tactic) and the economy took an even bigger nosedive, no?

I agree that Preval might be a good compromise...but then again many thought Lozade, Fox and Lula would be an improvement.

Missing in all of this is that the real choice of the people of Haiti, Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, was held by the US in custody and then illegally held by the UN-backed junta just long enough, so he couldn't file his nomination papers.

But don't let politics ruin another 'freedom on the march' story.

[mom cat]

5. From the article: "No reliable exit polls or quick counts were conducted"

If the elections do not seem fair to the people, things could get ugly, fast.