Aristide Declared Winner of Haiti ElectionHaiti's Provisional Electoral Council declared former President Jean Bertrand Aristide winner of the presidential elections held on Sunday, November 26; he was the only candidate because of an opposition boycott, reports from Port-au- Prince said.Opposition parties claimed that Aristide has no mandate to govern because of a low voter turnout. The opposition believed they could create a "peaceful alternative" to the government of Aristide and his Lavalas Family party. "Aristide doesn't represent Haiti; the society must look elsewhere in search of leaders," said head of the opposition National Reconstruction Movement (MRN) Rene Theodore. "Aristide's power will be fragile and authoritarian. In Haiti there is no space for a dictatorship, repression and arbitrary behavior, which can bring down a nation," he added. Authorities of the Provisional Electoral Council said that 60.5 percent of the 4 million registered voters went to the polls on Sunday, but the opposition affirmed that it was only 5 percent. The low turnout was partly due to fears of violence. Sunday's elections were overshadowed by a week of bomb explosions that killed two children. Authorities said the attacks were meant to intimidate electors. The 15 opposition parties didn't present candidates as part of a boycott to Sunday's presidential elections to protest what they considered a massive fraud in legislative and municipal elections in May, when the Lavalas party won 17 of 18 seats at stake in the Senate and 80 percent of the House Assembly. The Lavalas party was expected to grab all the nine Senate seats contested on Sunday to form a 27-seat Senate. Aristide expressed Monday his willingness to dialog with Haiti's opposition and affirmed that he would reactivate his contacts abroad. Questioning the outcome of the parliamentary elections in May, Haiti's traditional allies -- the United States, Canada and the 15-nation European Union -- refused to monitor the Sunday elections. Aristide, a former priest, was the first freely elected president of Haiti on December 16, 1990. He was toppled in a military coup in 1991 and restored to power in 1994 after a US-led invasion. He remained in power until 1996, when he handed over the presidency to incumbent President Rene Preval in accordance to the constitution, which does not allow consecutive terms in office. Haiti, with a population of more than 8 million, is among one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere. It has a short history of democracy after decades of brutal military regimes. |
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