UN questions mystery votes in Haiti election

Published on Saturday 23 April 2011 11:39

THE legitimacy of Haiti's election is in question after officials released results showing 18 legislative candidates suddenly received thousands of votes and were named winners.

The United Nations, along with the US Embassy, said it was troubled by final election results, which were released last week, that gave victories to 17 Chamber of Deputies candidates and one Senate candidate who ended up with far more votes than they had when preliminary returns were announced on 4 April.

"We have found no explanation for the reversals of 18 legislative races in the final results, which in all except two cases benefited the incumbent party" of outgoing president Rene Preval, the US Embassy said in a statement. "Without a public explanation and review ... the legitimacy of seating these candidates is in question."

The final numbers from the 20 March runoff election also confirmed preliminary results that showed pop singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly won the presidential contest in a landslide over a former first lady.

The embassy statement noted, for example, how a candidate from Preval's Unity party was third in the preliminary results but finished first in the final results after collecting 55,000 votes.

The United Nations, which has a substantial peacekeeping force in Haiti, also expressed concerns over the election results, which gave Unity 46 of the 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and an absolute majority in the Senate with 17 of 30 seats.

Unity's position will give the party greater control over many key government decisions, including who is approved as Haiti's next prime minister after Martelly is inaugurated as president on 14 May.

Martelly called for an investigation of the vote returns via a video posted on his Facebook page.