Haiti polls winner faces major tests
March 21, 2011, Monday
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ONE candidate is a musician with a bad-boy past. The other is a former first lady with a long political resume. Haiti's voters were expected to choose one of them yesterday to lead a country where anger with the government is deep and nearly a million people are living on the streets.
The election, already delayed by a political crisis, is also clouded with uncertainty over the return of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a popular but divisive figure whose mere presence was considered by the United States government and others as a possible threat to the vote.
Mirlande Manigat, the former first lady, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a star of Haitian compas music, emerged as the top two finishers in a first-round vote in November with 18 candidates that was marred by fraud and disorganization.
Lines formed before dawn yesterday outside polling stations as many people sought to cast ballots before church. As usual in Haiti, many polling stations opened late and workers could be seen setting up past the scheduled 6am local start time.
Enso Jodin, a 36-year-old construction worker, was among the early-risers in Petionville, in the hills above the capital. He wouldn't say which candidate had his support, expressing only frustration with the current government.
"We're here to change our country so that our kids can go to school and people can get out from under the tents," Jodin said.
Whoever wins will face major challenges, including a Senate and Chamber of Deputies controlled by the party of outgoing President Rene Preval, who was barred by the constitution from running for re-election. They may also face a surge in cholera once the rainy season starts and anger over the fact that 800,000 people are still in what were once optimistically labeled "temporary settlement camps" after the January 2010 earthquake.
"Everybody is waiting for these elections to be done and nobody wants to make a move until they are," said Yves Colon, a Haitian-born journalism professor at the University of Miami. "Haitians are looking for someone who can take them out of this hole they're in."
The two candidates have similar agendas, promising to make education universal in a country where only half the children attend school, to build homes and to foster economic growth. Both have said they want to restore Haiti's armed forces, eliminated by Aristide in 1995 after a long history of abuses.
Their backgrounds could not be more distinct: Manigat is a 70-year-old university administrator and former senator; Martelly is a 50-year-old pop star who has no college degree and a bad-boy past.
Some view his outsider status as an attribute in a country where the government has failed to provide basic services.
"We want to start with somebody who's new, somebody who hasn't been in politics before," said Robenson Naval, a 34-year-old unemployed plumber who lives in a camp across from the ruined National Palace. "We've been trashed by the previous political leaders."
Ebert Cineus, an elementary school teacher, said he was concerned over Martelly's lack of experience.
"Martelly says he will send all children to school for free, but that's an impossible dream," Cineus said. Manigat "is someone who can get the international community to help this country change."
The election, already delayed by a political crisis, is also clouded with uncertainty over the return of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a popular but divisive figure whose mere presence was considered by the United States government and others as a possible threat to the vote.
Mirlande Manigat, the former first lady, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a star of Haitian compas music, emerged as the top two finishers in a first-round vote in November with 18 candidates that was marred by fraud and disorganization.
Lines formed before dawn yesterday outside polling stations as many people sought to cast ballots before church. As usual in Haiti, many polling stations opened late and workers could be seen setting up past the scheduled 6am local start time.
Enso Jodin, a 36-year-old construction worker, was among the early-risers in Petionville, in the hills above the capital. He wouldn't say which candidate had his support, expressing only frustration with the current government.
"We're here to change our country so that our kids can go to school and people can get out from under the tents," Jodin said.
Whoever wins will face major challenges, including a Senate and Chamber of Deputies controlled by the party of outgoing President Rene Preval, who was barred by the constitution from running for re-election. They may also face a surge in cholera once the rainy season starts and anger over the fact that 800,000 people are still in what were once optimistically labeled "temporary settlement camps" after the January 2010 earthquake.
"Everybody is waiting for these elections to be done and nobody wants to make a move until they are," said Yves Colon, a Haitian-born journalism professor at the University of Miami. "Haitians are looking for someone who can take them out of this hole they're in."
The two candidates have similar agendas, promising to make education universal in a country where only half the children attend school, to build homes and to foster economic growth. Both have said they want to restore Haiti's armed forces, eliminated by Aristide in 1995 after a long history of abuses.
Their backgrounds could not be more distinct: Manigat is a 70-year-old university administrator and former senator; Martelly is a 50-year-old pop star who has no college degree and a bad-boy past.
Some view his outsider status as an attribute in a country where the government has failed to provide basic services.
"We want to start with somebody who's new, somebody who hasn't been in politics before," said Robenson Naval, a 34-year-old unemployed plumber who lives in a camp across from the ruined National Palace. "We've been trashed by the previous political leaders."
Ebert Cineus, an elementary school teacher, said he was concerned over Martelly's lack of experience.
"Martelly says he will send all children to school for free, but that's an impossible dream," Cineus said. Manigat "is someone who can get the international community to help this country change."
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