Haiti presidential candidates call for new election

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Nearly all the major candidates in Haiti's presidential election called for yesterday's balloting to be voided amid allegations of fraud and reports that large numbers of voters were turned away from polling stations across the quake-stricken country.

Twelve of the 19 candidates endorsed a joint statement denouncing the voting as fraudulent and calling on their supporters to show their anger with demonstrations against the government and the country's Provisional Electoral Council, known as the CEP.

The statement included all of the major contenders but one: Jude Célestin, who is backed by the Unity party of President René Préval.

"It is clear that Préval and the CEP were not prepared for elections," said candidate Anne Marie Josette Bijou, who read the statement to a cheering crowd that sang the national anthem and chanted "Arrest Préval!" The CEP had earlier acknowledged problems with voter lists but said immediately after the candidates' news conference that the election would continue. The Haitian government had no immediate response to the criticism.

Wyclef Jean, the Haitian-American singer whose own bid for president ended with an August disqualification, joined a convoy led by two candidates - musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly and factory owner Charles Henri-Baker - to CEP headquarters, where they hoped to meet with officials. UN peacekeepers and police deployed extra forces and barricades ahead of the march.

There were sporadic reports of violence, intimidation and a ballot box being stolen and its contents strewn about in the capital's Cité Soleil slum.

It was not yet clear whether the problems were orchestrated fraud or disorganization made worse by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Even so, the united front of so many candidates could cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, the first since the earthquake destroyed much of the capital, leaving more than a million people stranded in crowded tent encampments.- AP