Haiti's on edge on election eve

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Shoving and screaming, a

frustrated mob of about 200 Haitians practically stormed a government building

here after waiting hours under a broiling sun for voting cards.

"Stop pushing!" a guard yelled as he forced back the crowd. United Nations

peacekeepers trained their submachine guns on the would-be voters from a

rooftop crowned with concertina wire.

Once inside, many in line laughed and clapped as election workers handed

them their laminated cards. But others were turned away empty-handed after

being told their cards still weren't ready.

"The elite are keeping our cards so they can manipulate the vote," shouted

Fan-Fan Pierre, 31, a high school teacher who on a recent day was making his

tenth fruitless trip to fetch his card.

A volatile mix of excitement, suspicion, chaos and fear pervades Haiti as

it prepares for tomorrow's elections to replace leftist President Jean-Bertrand

Aristide, whose ouster by armed rebels two years ago has pushed this troubled

Caribbean nation to the brink of chaos.

Authorities have postponed the vote four times since October because of

security and logistical problems. Though four-fifths of the electorate has

registered, nearly one in 10 still lack voting cards. And concern remains

widespread that armed groups of various political ilk could disrupt balloting

in this country known for electoral violence.

"It's not impossible to hold free and fair elections, but it's going to be

very dicey," said Mark Schneider, a Haiti expert with the Brussels-based

International Crisis Group.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in political clashes since the

firebrand Aristide's departure from Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest and least

developed nation.

Problems in Cit� Soleil

The biggest security problem remains Cit� Soleil, a fetid seaside slum and

Aristide stronghold on the edge of this chaotic capital. A 9,000-member,

Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping force dispatched to Haiti after Aristide's fall

has failed to quash gangs who rule the slum and allegedly rape, murder and

kidnap in collusion with rogue police.

Cit� Soleil is such a shooting gallery that the interim government won't

put voting booths there, incensing many Cit� Soleil residents who will have to

walk up to 1� miles to vote. In recent days, pro-Aristide gang members have led

chanting, chest-beating protesters through the slum to denounce the absence of

voting booths as a plot by a tiny but powerful elite.

"It's social exclusion. The bourgeoisie don't want the poor people to

vote," said Baptiste William, 24, a reputed gang leader with cornrows and

cafe-au-lait skin who is known as Ti Blanc (Haitian Creole for "Little White

Man"). William said he would personally guarantee safety if the government

allowed balloting in his Cit� Soleil neighborhood of cinderblock and tin shacks

pocked with bullet holes. Authorities say it would be unconscionable to accept

the offer.

With security forces stretched thin, the interim government is providing

only 800 polling centers nationwide. That's at least one-third fewer than many

international election observers recommend for this mountainous, Maryland-sized

nation of 8 million, where many people will travel miles by foot or mule to

vote.

Despite the worries, Haiti assumed a carnival air over the weekend as

campaigning ended for the 33 presidential candidates and hundreds contending

for the 130-seat national legislature. In towns and cities across the nation,

Haitians shimmied along pot-holed streets, chanting campaign slogans and waving

candidates' flags to raucous racine music.

Overtones of drugs, violence

But UN tanks and truckloads of Haitian riot police guarded most rallies.

Presidential front-runner Ren� Pr�val, a former president and Aristide protege,

canceled his final campaign appearance Saturday in Port-au-Prince, saying he

had received word of a planned attack.

The U.S. ambassador to Haiti, Tim Carney, hailed the elections as a

critical step toward democracy but cautioned that he was "very concerned" that

drug money was being funneled to some campaigns.

"Some of the presidential candidates have told me people with suitcases of

money have shown up at the doorsteps of candidates for parliament," Carney told

Newsday. None of the presidential front-runners is believed to have drug ties,

Carney said.

Recent polls show Pr�val, 63, winning more than one-third of the vote. If

no candidate captures more than 50 percent of the ballots, the top two will

hold a runoff March 19.

An agronomist, Pr�val became Haiti's only democratically elected president

to complete a five-year term when he left office in 2001. He has distanced

himself from Aristide even as he echoes his former mentor's pledge to help the

70 percent of Haitians who live in poverty. He also has vowed to heal class

divisions that have festered since slaves ousted French colonists two centuries

ago.

"The people of Cit� Soleil are living in a ghetto and the bourgeoisie are

living in another ghetto, barricaded in their houses with electric fences and

afraid to walk the streets," Pr�val told Newsday. "It's time for a new

beginning."

Pr�val's closest rival is Charles Henri Baker, 50, an assembly-line factory

owner and former U.S. resident who led anti-Aristide protests. With a slogan

of "Order-Discipline-Work," he has promised to end chronic instability and

chaos.

Baker denies he is an elitist, although as a white man he is a rarity in

predominantly black Haiti. "If I'm prejudiced, it's against robbers and

chim�res [gang members], but I embrace everyone else," Baker declared Saturday

during his closing rally in Port-au-Prince.

Jaded from centuries of despots and dazed by the plethora of presidential

candidates, many Haitians say they won't vote. But others can't wait.

"I have to hope it'll make a difference," said Port-au-Prince housewife

Vesta Bellizaire, 25. "Because it's amazing we're holding this election at all."

Presidential play

The 33 candidates vying for Haiti's presidency range from a former coup leader

to an armed rebel to a follower of playboy-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc''

Duvalier. If no candidate wins more than half the vote, the two top

vote-getters will face a runoff.

CANDIDATES INCLUDE:

o REN� PR�VAL

Front-runner and a former ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who

served as president from 1995 to 2000

o CHARLES HENRI BAKER

Prominent businessman who supported Aristide's ouster

o LESLIE MANIGAT

Former president, septuagenarian businessman who was ousted by the military in

1988 after five months in

power

o GUY PHILIPPE

Former army officer who helped lead the 2004 revolt against Aristide

o MARC BAZIN

Former World Bank official who was prime minister under the military regime

that ousted Aristide in 1991 but

served in Aristide's cabinet after the latter was restored to power

o EVANS PAUL

Former Port-au-Prince mayor who was tortured under former dictatorships

o HUBERT DERONCERAY

Cabinet minister under Jean-Claude Duvalier

o HIMLER REBUS

Former army colonel who led a failed coup in the 1990s