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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Haiti presidential candidates reject recount ...</span>
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Two top candidates in Haiti's disputed presidential election are rejecting a proposed recount, threatening to torpedo a compromise aimed at quelling days of riots and violence over allegations the vote was rigged, their campaigns said today. The snub by No 1 finisher Mirlande Manigat and by third-place Michel Martelly leaves the impoverished nation dangerously volatile, with much of the population rejecting the officially announced outcome of the November 28 election and many willing to protest with violence. Only the ruling party candidate, Jude Celestin, supports the electoral council's offer to retabulate tally sheets from thousands of polling stations around the Caribbean nation. Blockades and rock-throwing continued in a few areas, but violence had largely subsided in most parts of the capital by Saturday and many people rushed to reopened markets to stock up on food, water, fuel and other supplies in fear that more protests could erupt again. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a potential United States presidential candidate, was scheduled to shrug off a US travel warning and visit the Haitian capital today, accompanying evangelist Franklin Graham to cholera-treatment centres and other projects undertaken by his charity group.Manigat, a law professor and former first lady, had 31 per cent of the vote in the official preliminary count and is all but guaranteed a spot in a January 16 runoff between the top two finishers.She rejected the re-count because the electoral council failed to propose clear procedures or a timetable, her campaign said in a statement issued Friday. She said she was open to other initiatives to settle the crisis. Martelly finished a few thousand votes behind Celestin and would be eliminated from a runoff if the current results stand. His supporters have led many of the protests that paralysed the capital for most of the week and he joined many of the other 18 candidates in denouncing the election as rigged well before the polls closed."We cannot accept a re-count by the very same group that manipulated the elections in the first place," Martelly told The Associated Press today. He said a fair count would show that he placed first.Celestin's campaign also claims the result was botched -- saying he finished first rather than second. Senator Joseph Lambert, who heads his campaign, told AP today that they "accept the recount process (to ensure) the transparency of the system." Everyone agrees the election had widespread problems, taking place in a nation suffered from disorganisation even before a January earthquake threw a million people into the streets and a deadly cholera epidemic began sweeping across the countryside.Thousands of voters did not get ID cards in time for the election, could not find their names on incomplete voting lists still swollen with people who had died in the quake or were turned away inexplicably by poll workers. Official monitors reported killings, voter intimidation and ballot-box stuffing. The US State Department expressed concern that the results did not match pre-vote polling, which showed Celestin, the favourite of outgoing President Rene Preval, en route to elimination.The United Nations, Organisation of American States and Caribbean Community also acknowledged problems but said they should not invalidate the election. (Observer)
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Haiti presidential candidates reject recount ...</span>
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Two top candidates in Haiti's disputed presidential election are rejecting a proposed recount, threatening to torpedo a compromise aimed at quelling days of riots and violence over allegations the vote was rigged, their campaigns said today. The snub by No 1 finisher Mirlande Manigat and by third-place Michel Martelly leaves the impoverished nation dangerously volatile, with much of the population rejecting the officially announced outcome of the November 28 election and many willing to protest with violence. Only the ruling party candidate, Jude Celestin, supports the electoral council's offer to retabulate tally sheets from thousands of polling stations around the Caribbean nation. Blockades and rock-throwing continued in a few areas, but violence had largely subsided in most parts of the capital by Saturday and many people rushed to reopened markets to stock up on food, water, fuel and other supplies in fear that more protests could erupt again. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a potential United States presidential candidate, was scheduled to shrug off a US travel warning and visit the Haitian capital today, accompanying evangelist Franklin Graham to cholera-treatment centres and other projects undertaken by his charity group.Manigat, a law professor and former first lady, had 31 per cent of the vote in the official preliminary count and is all but guaranteed a spot in a January 16 runoff between the top two finishers.She rejected the re-count because the electoral council failed to propose clear procedures or a timetable, her campaign said in a statement issued Friday. She said she was open to other initiatives to settle the crisis. Martelly finished a few thousand votes behind Celestin and would be eliminated from a runoff if the current results stand. His supporters have led many of the protests that paralysed the capital for most of the week and he joined many of the other 18 candidates in denouncing the election as rigged well before the polls closed."We cannot accept a re-count by the very same group that manipulated the elections in the first place," Martelly told The Associated Press today. He said a fair count would show that he placed first.Celestin's campaign also claims the result was botched -- saying he finished first rather than second. Senator Joseph Lambert, who heads his campaign, told AP today that they "accept the recount process (to ensure) the transparency of the system." Everyone agrees the election had widespread problems, taking place in a nation suffered from disorganisation even before a January earthquake threw a million people into the streets and a deadly cholera epidemic began sweeping across the countryside.Thousands of voters did not get ID cards in time for the election, could not find their names on incomplete voting lists still swollen with people who had died in the quake or were turned away inexplicably by poll workers. Official monitors reported killings, voter intimidation and ballot-box stuffing. The US State Department expressed concern that the results did not match pre-vote polling, which showed Celestin, the favourite of outgoing President Rene Preval, en route to elimination.The United Nations, Organisation of American States and Caribbean Community also acknowledged problems but said they should not invalidate the election. (Observer)