Haiti elections pose diplomatic quandary for OAS
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The Organization of American States (OAS) is facing a diplomatic quandary in Haiti.
The team it appointed to look into the first round results of the disputed presidential elections is calling on the Haitian President to cancel its preferred candidate from the final run-off poll. But President Rene Preval is not likely to agree to the regional team's proposal to withdraw government-backed candidate Jude Celestin, who was earlier officially declared as one of the two top winners.
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The Wild Card: Popular Haitian musician Jean Philippe "Sweet Micky" Martelly – described in his poster as "Martelly the Bald-headed One" – has been recommended by the OAS to replace the government's preferred candidate, Jude Celestin, in the final run-off. But few think the government will accept. |
While other observer teams ruled the poll too crooked to be acceptable, the joint OAS-Caribbean Community (Caricom) team said the irregularities were insufficient to declare the entire election null and void.
After Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced the winners were academic and former first lady Mirlande Manigat and Celestin, in that order, a third candidate – popular musician Jean Philippe "Sweet Micky" Martely – cried foul, insisting he scored more than Celestin.
Preval, facing street protests by Martelly's supporters and an escalation of pressure to have the results publicly declared, asked the OAS team to revisit the results from the first round and make recommendations.
The OAS team now seems clear that there were irregularities regarding Celestin's score and place in the vote and have recommend that the second and third originally declared places – Celestin and Martelly – be reversed, with Celestin to be dropped out of the final round.
The OAS' new finding is seen as a contradiction of its earlier position that the irregularities were too minimal to affect or change the results. It is also regarded as justification of calls by many for an entirely new poll – especially as the largest party, Fanmi Lavalas, led by exiled former President Jean Bertrand Aristide, was officially barred from participating in the 2010 poll on the basis of questionable "technicalities".
The official results of the first round elections lack international credibility and the international community is insisting on the type of results it wants before releasing promised aid.
But the CEP indicated in a statement last week that while it has received and considered the OAS' report, there are "legal complications" associated with its recommendations.
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