Former President Rene Preval was the frontrunner among 33 candidates contesting the presidential election in Haiti yesterday, but the official results of that country’s presidential elections will not come until the end of the week.
Polls opened at 6am with some stations in the capital, Port-au-Prince, getting off to a late start.
The setback reportedly did little to deter the tens of thousands of Haitians who anxiously traveled many miles from their homes and towed lines to cast their votes as heavily armed UN troops watched over.
At last report, one person had died of a heart attack and another of asphyxia and several more were injured or fainted as they were trampled or shoved by crowds that rushed voting offices. There were however no reports of major violence.
In an interview with the Bahama Journal shortly after voting began, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said the election had given rise to very long lines and that things were basically going as planned.
“We originally thought that there would be two Bahamian observers there, but the second one is actually going for the second round of voting,” said the minister, who was in Haiti on Friday on a fact-finding mission with other CARICOM foreign ministers. “We will not have any indication of who the winner is until Friday.”
Preval, 63, led Haiti between 1996 and 2001. The other top contenders are businessman Charles Henri Baker and Leslie Manigat, who was president for five months in 1998.
Also jockeying for the top position is 37-year-old Guy Phillippe, a formal rebel in the insurgency that forced President Jean Bertrand-Aristide from office in February 2004. He was also accused of the death of a Haitian journalist.
If no candidate wins a majority, the top two finishers would compete in a March 19 runoff.
Hundreds of candidates are also running for 129 parliamentary seats.
Polling stations were initially scheduled to close at 4pm, but reportedly stayed open an additional two hours because of organizational problems.
Officials reported that in many areas voting went smoothly.
“It appears to me that this is the best chance for moving forward in a stable environment, which if all goes well is a process which the international community can respect,” Minister Mitchell said.
“But you can’t say it’s over until it is over when the last ballot is counted and the results are actually published. But from what we saw, the system seems broadly similar to what exists here in The Bahamas. And it looks as if they are headed towards a result which the people of Haiti can respect and which the international community will respect. “
Some officials, however, recognize that successful elections would not automatically translate into economic stability for the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.
Haitian Ambassador to The Bahamas Louis Harold Joseph told The Bahama Journal he is hopeful that this would come eventually, although with political stability.
“This would mean a lot for Haiti because for the past 20 years, Haiti was in transition, long transition. This time, we hope to get it right,” Mr. Joseph said.
Minister of Immigration Vincent Peet, meanwhile, said The Bahamas government hopes it would be able to have meaningful discussions with the new Haitian government on how to address this country’s illegal immigration problem.
Last year, authorities reportedly sent home 4,504 undocumented Haitians. Just last month, the government spent some $104,000 repatriating undocumented immigrants, mainly Haitians.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
