Haitian Voters Overwhelm Poll Workers
Scuffles broke out and polling stations opened hours late Tuesday as masses of Haitians waited — sometimes in mile-long lines — to vote under the protection of U.N. peacekeepers crouching behind machine guns and patrolling alongside armored vehicles.
Outside the gang-controlled Cite Soleil slum, frustrated voters pounded on empty ballot boxes and chanted, "It's time for Cite Soleil to vote!"
Rene Preval, a 63-year-old former president backed by many poor Haitians, is the front-runner, according to pre-election polls. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said "people are investing everything in this election."
"We are a poor country and we will not be able to do everything right away," he said. "But we are determined to do our best and raise the standard of living for the people of Haiti."
Among 33 other presidential candidates are a factory owner whose slogan is "Order, Discipline, Work," and another former president ousted in a coup.
Polls closed by late Tuesday — nearly four hours later than scheduled — said Stephane Lacroix, a spokesman for Haiti's elections commission.
It is the country's first presidential election since a bloody revolt two years ago drove out the president and pushed the country toward total collapse.
Earlier, gunshots could be heard from within the Cite Soleil slum, which is home to some 200,000 people, but the source of the shooting could not be determined.
David Wimhurst, a spokesman for the U.N., blamed the problems on poor planning and a lack of trained workers. The Haitian Electoral Council and the Organization of American States were chiefly responsible for organizing the elections, which had been postponed four times.
"Some polling workers didn't show up for work, so we're going to grab people from the crowd, give them some quick training and get them in there (polling stations), Wimhurst said.
In many areas, voting went smoothly. Clutching newly minted voter ID cards, about 1,000 people lined up before dawn at a polling station in the Port-au-Prince area of Delmas, slowly filing in and leaving with a dark ink stains on their thumbs — proof that they voted.
Outside a polling station in the downtown slum of Bel-Air, hundreds of waiting voters snaked along rutted, trash-strewn streets.
"Haitians are mobilized for change. That's why there's so many people in the street this morning," said Jean Joseph, 44, as he went to cast his ballot.
Authorities urged Haitians to vote in large numbers under the protection of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers, calling Tuesday's election a key step to reversing Haiti's cycle of despair.
"Haiti's future depends on this vote," said Jacques Bernard, director general of the electoral council. "Good elections are the only solution to saving our nation."
Helicopters, truck and even mules ferried election supplies into remote corners of the nation, which has never seen democracy fully take root. Only one elected president, Preval, has served out his term in office, from 1996-2001.
Also running are a former rebel in the insurgency that forced Aristide from office in February 2004 and a former army officer accused in the death of a Haitian journalist. If no candidate wins a majority, a March 19 runoff would be held between the top two candidates.
Hundreds of candidates are also running for 129 parliamentary seats.
Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, told The Associated Press late Monday he expected high turnout.
"We have seen ... a lot of enthusiasm to vote," he said in Port-au-Prince, the capital of this nation of 8 million people.
At the United Nations, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi said 92 percent of the 3.5 million people who registered to vote had collected their identity cards, and people were continuing to pick up cards during the day Monday.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the 9,300-member U.N. peacekeeping force "will do all it can to support the Haitian authorities in ensuring that the vote is held in freedom and safety."