Aristide Cuts A Deal
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said Haiti intends to hold run-off elections for eight disputed Senate seats within six months in a bid to end a stalemate arising from last year's parliamentary vote, a government official said Monday.
In a letter read to the Organization of American States' General Assembly in Costa Rica Sunday, Aristide also said elections for the remaining legislative seats would be held in 2002 and 2003, government spokesman Luc Especa said.
That timetable would shorten by two to three years the terms of those elected in the May 2000 election that gave Aristide's Lavalas Family party an overwhelming majority.
The political opposition bloc Democratic Convergence rejected Aristide's plan. It said he had failed to negotiate with Haitian political parties and business and religious groups.
"We don't accept any agreement that doesn't include the opposition or civil society," said opposition leader Micha Gaillard.
Convergence called for fresh legislative and presidential elections, saying Aristide's legitimacy was in question because he was sworn in earlier this year by a tainted parliament.
Especa said Haiti was looking to the OAS for help in creating a new electoral council to oversee the election.
"He (Aristide) also asked the OAS to establish a mission in Haiti in order to help materialize these things, as well as to supervise all human rights issues," Especa said.
The OAS, which has been trying to help negotiate an end to the political impasse, welcomed Aristide's announcements.
"The fulfillment of President Aristide's promises and announcements should pave the way for a process of negotiation, with our facilitation, aimed at overcoming this crisis and strengthening democratic institutions, respect for human rights, and justice," OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria told the assembly.
OAS election observers said election officials incorrectly calculated results in 10 Senate races in May 2000, giving outright victories to Lavalas candidates who should have gone into run-offs.
According to Haitian election law, a winner must get 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. But in some races, the OAS says, Haiti counted only the top four candidates when calculating vote percentages. In the ten seats in question, that method may have allowed Lavalas party candidates to avoid runoffs.
Despite pressure at home and abroad, the government refused to recount the votes, prompting the major opposition parties to boycott the November election that returned Aristide to the presidency on Feb. 7.
The government's decision caused foreign donors to suspend more than $500 million in desperately needed aid to Haiti, the Americas' poorest country.
Some pro-Haitain groups opposed the severance of aid, saying observers were made aware of the method of calculations long before the OAS and United States voiced objections, and insisting that the election should be honored to bolster Haiti's stability.
Aristid, a former Roman Catholic priest, was swept to power in 1991 in a grass-roots movement that ended decades of dictatorship and military rule. He was toppled in a military coup shortly after starting his term and was restored to office three years later by a U.S.-led military invasion.
Barred from serving consecutive terms, he stepped down in 1996 and was elected to another five-year term in November.
© MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited and contributed to this report