Stone-throwing protesters stoked Haiti’s political crisis on Saturday, a day after they forced the Caribbean nation to call off a presidential election and despite calls for consensus from global powers.
Haiti was due to choose a replacement for President Michel Martelly in a run-off vote yesterday, but the two-man race was postponed indefinitely after opposition candidate Jude Celestin refused to participate citing alleged fraud, a move that led to anti-government protests and violence nationally.
Martelly says the fraud claims are unfounded but critics believe he unfairly favoured his chosen successor, banana exporter Jovenel Moise, and some are demanding that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, start its $100-million (R1.6-billion) election again from scratch.
Striking a defiant note, Moise criticised the election council for postponing a vote he was confident of winning, and said he was ready to stand whenever a new date was set.
The United Nations joined the United States and other major powers that had supported the election in denouncing the violence and called for a negotiated solution that leads to a new vote.
About a thousand protesters snaked through the capital Port-au-Prince’s downtown, a district still largely in ruins after a devastating 2010 earthquake.
Soldiers from Haiti’s UN peacekeeping mission patrolled the streets.
Martelly is due to leave office in two weeks and Haiti may need an interim body to see the country through to the next election, but he and different opposition leaders will struggle to agree on the contours of such an administration.
Haiti has been unable to build a stable democracy since the overthrow of the 1957-1986 dictatorship of the Duvalier family and ensuing military coups and election fraud.
The protestors, from the capital’s poorest neighbourhoods, deeply oppose Martelly’s business-friendly reign, which they say was artificially propped-up by foreign powers.
Protest leader Volcy Assad’s Platform Pitit Dessalines party and others with links to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s left-wing movement are prepared to see both rounds of the election annulled, giving themselves another shot at the presidency.
Second-place Celestin, on the other hand, is likely to want to maintain his advantage and quickly organise a clean runoff vote.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned this weeks’ violence and was concerned by the delay to the election.
Haiti in crisis as protesters prevent election
Haiti was due to choose a replacement for President Michel Martelly in a run-off vote yesterday, but the two-man race was postponed indefinitely after opposition candidate Jude Celestin refused to participate citing alleged fraud, a move that led to anti-government protests and violence nationally.
Martelly says the fraud claims are unfounded but critics believe he unfairly favoured his chosen successor, banana exporter Jovenel Moise, and some are demanding that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, start its $100-million (R1.6-billion) election again from scratch.
Striking a defiant note, Moise criticised the election council for postponing a vote he was confident of winning, and said he was ready to stand whenever a new date was set.
The United Nations joined the United States and other major powers that had supported the election in denouncing the violence and called for a negotiated solution that leads to a new vote.
About a thousand protesters snaked through the capital Port-au-Prince’s downtown, a district still largely in ruins after a devastating 2010 earthquake.
Soldiers from Haiti’s UN peacekeeping mission patrolled the streets.
Martelly is due to leave office in two weeks and Haiti may need an interim body to see the country through to the next election, but he and different opposition leaders will struggle to agree on the contours of such an administration.
Haiti has been unable to build a stable democracy since the overthrow of the 1957-1986 dictatorship of the Duvalier family and ensuing military coups and election fraud.
The protestors, from the capital’s poorest neighbourhoods, deeply oppose Martelly’s business-friendly reign, which they say was artificially propped-up by foreign powers.
Protest leader Volcy Assad’s Platform Pitit Dessalines party and others with links to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s left-wing movement are prepared to see both rounds of the election annulled, giving themselves another shot at the presidency.
Second-place Celestin, on the other hand, is likely to want to maintain his advantage and quickly organise a clean runoff vote.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned this weeks’ violence and was concerned by the delay to the election.
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