PORT-AU-PRINCE, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – Two of
Haiti’s biggest parties stoked tension on Monday by claiming victory for their candidates in a long-delayed presidential election days before official results are due to be released.
Nearly 6.2 million people were eligible to vote in the Caribbean
nation, parts of which are still struggling to recover from a devastating hurricane, and long lines formed Sunday as many cast their ballots.
There were scattered reports of civil unrest and a small number of
arrests, but order generally held, boosting hopes that at long last institutions may be renewed and constitutional rule returned.
But Haiti is not yet free of the fear that this year’s attempt to
choose a leader will end as it did in 2015, when election results were cancelled amid protests and reports of massive fraud.
Former president Michel Martelly’s mandate expired after last year’s
cancelled poll, but his party is still keen to see his anointed successor
Jovenel Moise take office.
In the meantime Haiti has had an interim leader, Jocelerme Privert,
who was chosen by the legislature.
– ‘Revolution’ threat –
=======================
On Monday, in defiance of a declaration by the Provisional Electoral
Council (CEP) that no official results of Sunday’s first round vote would be
known for days, Martelly’s PHTK party declared a win.
According to PHTK spokesman Rudy Herivaux, apparently citing
unconfirmed partial figures, not only did Moise win the first round vote but he secured more than 50 percent and avoided a run-off.
“We know this officially already,” he said, declaring Moise to be
Haiti’s president-elect. “The country knows it. The whole world knows who is the president-elect of Haiti — it’s not a mystery.”
Not to be outdone, supporters of the opposition Fanmi Lavalas — the
party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide — also declared victory for their candidate Maryse Narcisse.
Hundreds of Aristide supporters poured into the streets of poor
neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, where the former exile is still a hero to many.
“We’re going to stay in the street until they give us what we won at the
ballot box,” declared Lucher Jean-Joseph. “We voted for Maryse Narcisse and she won on the first round, there’s no way past that.
“If they want a revolution, we’ll give them it.”
Legally, only Haiti’s CEP can declare official results, and ballots
from many areas of the poor and recently hurricane-swept nation have yet to be counted.