Haiti, January 27: Haiti’s ruling party has bowed to weeks of international pressure to pull its candidate out of the presidential run off amid widespread fraud allegations.
“Even though we are certain Jude Celestin received the necessary number of votes and was therefore through to the second round, INITE (Unity) has agreed to withdraw his candidacy for the presidency,” a party statement said on Wednesday.
The US has led warnings that Haiti must install a credible government or risk losing international support for the impoverished Caribbean country, which is still struggling to recover from a devastating January 2010 earthquake.
“Our view is that the government of Haiti should accept the findings of the OAS (Organization of American States) report and then move forward with the follow on round of voting,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.
US special coordinator for Haiti, Thomas Adams, dismissed the notion that Washington was pushing for a particular candidate.
“The elections were widely viewed as fraudulent,” Adams said. “We have not favored any candidate. We favor a fair process.”
According to preliminary results from the first round of presidential vote on November 28, Celestin garnered 7,000 more votes than popular singer Michel Martelly, securing a place in a run-off against former first lady Mirlande Manigat.
Within hours of the announcement, protests swept Haitian towns, leaving five dead and the country in crisis as opposition candidates accused President Rene Preval and the electoral commission of vote rigging.
A team of international monitors called in by Preval found widespread vote tampering and fraud in Celestin’s favor and recommended he withdraw from the competition and leave the field clear for a battle between Martelly and Manigat.
———Agencies