Haitians Come Out in Support of Preval

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Hundreds of people marched through the streets of this remote mountain town Sunday, waving leafy bamboo shoots, banging drums and cheering to celebrate Rene Preval's lead in the Haitian presidential election. But allegations by a member of Haiti's electoral commission about vote-tampering roiled the capital of Port-au-Prince, where thousands protested outside the upscale hotel where commission members have been disclosing partial results since Thursday. Electoral commissioner Pierre Richard Duchemin, whose comments were broadcast widely on radio, accused the commission of manipulating the count and refusing to tell the public that Preval had 52 percent of the vote, enough to avert a runoff and take the presidency.

"According to me, there's a certain level of manipulation," Duchemin told the Associated Press, adding that "there is an effort to stop people from asking questions" about the tabulation process. The slow pace of counting ballots has tipped what was seen as Haiti's most successful election ever -- a huge peaceful turnout of voters despite a chaotic start to balloting -- into another volatile crisis. The huge crowd blocked streets leading to the Hotel Montana, making it nearly impossible for commission members to attend a news briefing.

Preval, who lives in a small white stucco house on the town square here, a six-hour drive from the turmoil of the capital, remained confident that he was about to complete a remarkable political comeback after five years of retirement. But he was suspicious of the electoral commission. At one point, he stepped onto his porch, dancing across the tile floor and singing, " Yo vole vot nuo " -- in lyric Creole, "They're stealing our votes."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021200590.html