Haitians brace for more electoral violenceRival presidential election camps call on supporters to take to the streets and tip ballot in their candidates' favour.
AP
Published: 00:00 December 11, 2010
A car burns in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Thursday. Barricades were set up by supporters of eliminated presidential candidates to protest the announcement that only government protege Jude Celestin and former first lady Mirlande Manigat would advance to a presidential runoff election.
Port-au-Prince: Haitians prepared for armed clashes and more days of flaming barricades as rival candidates called on supporters to take to streets and tip the balance in a sharply disputed presidential election leading.
Gunfire ripped through post-earthquake shanties near the ruins of the national palace on Thursday afternoon, killing at least one man and injuring several more, witnesses said. Third-place candidate and carnival singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly blamed the attack on supporters of government-backed candidate Jude Celestin, who is edging him out by less than 1 percentage point for a spot in a January run-off.
The provisional electoral council announced a seeming compromise on Thursday afternoon with a re-count of tally sheets at which international observers and the three leading candidates — Celestin, Martelly and first-place vote-getter and former first lady Mirlande Manigat — could attend.But the situation appeared to continue worsening.
The United States reissued a travel warning recommending all US citizens reconsider nonessential trips to Haiti — citing high crime, the cholera outbreak and social unrest. Canada closed its embassy until further notice because of the post-electoral violence. Flights were cancelled in and out of the capital's international airport.
No comments:
Post a Comment