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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> OAS experts challenge # Haiti el... ( Reuters )...</span>
A leaked report on Haiti's disputed November 28 elections by Organization of American States experts recommends that a government-backed presidential candidate be eliminated from a second-round run-off, a U.S. media report said Monday. The Associated Press, which said it had obtained a copy of the OAS team's draft report, cited the document as challenging the preliminary election results released on December 7 by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), which had put government technocrat Jude Celestin in the second round.The Provisional Electoral Council said it had not yet received the final report by the OAS experts who have worked since late last month to verify the contested results from the chaotic presidential and legislative polls on Nov 28.The leaked report's recommendation seemed likely to roil the edgy political climate in Haiti just days before the country and the international community commemorate the first anniversary of the January 12 quake.The preliminary December 7 results triggered several days of street riots and protests, mostly by supporters of third-place candidate and popular musician Michel Martelly who was edged out of the second round by Celestin. Both finished behind opposition matriarch Mirlande Manigat who gained most votes in the first round, but not enough for an outright win."The Provisional Electoral Council does not have the OAS report," CEP Director-General Pierre-Louis Opont told Reuters.OAS officials in Haiti said they were still working on the final version of the report on the election results to be delivered to the CEP and Haitian President Rene Preval."We don't have a final report as yet, we're working on it ... We hope to have it finished by the end of the day," said Ambassador Colin Granderson, who heads a joint OAS-Caribbean Community mission that observed the November 28 elections.OAS and CEP officials said they could not comment on the contents of the leaked OAS report as cited by the Associated Press. One official called the leak "disappointing."
<span style="font-weight: bold"> OAS experts challenge # Haiti el... ( Reuters )...</span>
A leaked report on Haiti's disputed November 28 elections by Organization of American States experts recommends that a government-backed presidential candidate be eliminated from a second-round run-off, a U.S. media report said Monday. The Associated Press, which said it had obtained a copy of the OAS team's draft report, cited the document as challenging the preliminary election results released on December 7 by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), which had put government technocrat Jude Celestin in the second round.The Provisional Electoral Council said it had not yet received the final report by the OAS experts who have worked since late last month to verify the contested results from the chaotic presidential and legislative polls on Nov 28.The leaked report's recommendation seemed likely to roil the edgy political climate in Haiti just days before the country and the international community commemorate the first anniversary of the January 12 quake.The preliminary December 7 results triggered several days of street riots and protests, mostly by supporters of third-place candidate and popular musician Michel Martelly who was edged out of the second round by Celestin. Both finished behind opposition matriarch Mirlande Manigat who gained most votes in the first round, but not enough for an outright win."The Provisional Electoral Council does not have the OAS report," CEP Director-General Pierre-Louis Opont told Reuters.OAS officials in Haiti said they were still working on the final version of the report on the election results to be delivered to the CEP and Haitian President Rene Preval."We don't have a final report as yet, we're working on it ... We hope to have it finished by the end of the day," said Ambassador Colin Granderson, who heads a joint OAS-Caribbean Community mission that observed the November 28 elections.OAS and CEP officials said they could not comment on the contents of the leaked OAS report as cited by the Associated Press. One official called the leak "disappointing."