Meanwhile, down in Haiti, presidential runoff date announced

[rabs]

with one minor problem. It is still not known who the two candidates are.

Article says Hil is scheduled to be in Port-au-Prince tomorrow (Sunday). But I doubt it what with the revolution in Egypt.

-----------------------------


Is he in or is he out??


Haiti runoff vote set for March

Electoral body says presidential second round to be held on March 20 and results to be declared on March 31.

Last Modified: 29 Jan 2011 05:26 GMT

Haiti's provisional electoral council has set March 20 as the new date for a second-round presidential vote and promised to announce the final results of the disputed first round next week.

The new schedule, which follows weeks of delays and rescheduling, was published on Friday.

Runoffs for president and parliament, supposed to be held earlier this month, were postponed by internal fights and public rioting over preliminary results from first-round presidential vote in November.

Those results showed ruling-party candidate Jude Celestin was set to take on former first lady Mirlande Manigat.

But the Organisation of American States says a re-evaluation based on fraud estimates shows Celestin should be out and populist singer Michel Martelly in.

Leaders Celestin's Unity party said this week that they agree that he should drop out of the race, though they believe Celestin won the election.

But Celestin has not commented on whether he will do so.

US pressure

The United States is pressuring the Haitian government and outgoing president, Rene Preval, whose party backed Celestin, to accept the OAS recommendation, saying that continued support is dependent on doing so.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is scheduled to visit Haiti on Sunday and meet Preval to discuss the election and reconstruction in the wake of last year's deadly earthquake.

Under the new schedule, campaigning will resume on February 17 and continue until March 18. Results are promised on March 31, followed by an appeals process.

If all that goes as planned, Haiti will have its new president named on April 16.

Preval's term ends February 7 under the constitution, but an expiring parliament passed an emergency law last year allowing him to remain in office until mid-May.



http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/01/201112943130670652.html#

[social_critic]

1. Goof for them

I've come to the conclusion they are going to get better results with a raffle.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks, rabs. This is totally strange. n/t

[Peace Patriot]

3. U.S. support hinges on Haitians bending over for a fraudulent U.S. recount of a fraudulent

U.S.-puppet run election?


"The United States is pressuring the Haitian government and outgoing president, Rene Preval, whose party backed Celestin, to accept the OAS recommendation, saying that continued support is dependent on doing so." --from the OP

--

Typical U.S. arrogance and cruelty--to use food and water for people hit by a catastrophe as bludgeons. Not only that, but U.S. malfeasance in using the billions of dollars in aid money--to which many countries and many people contributed--has resulted in a million Haitians still living under tarps--not even in tents--a serious cholera outbreak and lack of restored infrastructure.

------------------

Al Jazeera is WRONG that the "OAS" laid this dictum on Haiti.

--

"But the Organisation of American States says a re-evaluation based on fraud estimates shows Celestin should be out and populist singer Michel Martelly in." --from the OP

--

The U.S. put together a team of six people from the U.S. (notorious oppressor of Haiti), France (notorious oppressor of Haiti and former slavemaster) and Canada (rightwing/corporate government) and one Jamaican, to 'recount' this vote--a 'recount' that was so incomplete as to be a fraud in itself. This "team" in no way resembles the normal OAS election monitoring group, and how the OAS let the U.S. get away with this is a question that needs to be put OAS head Insulza. It is a dire omen for future election monitoring in Latin America.

Where was Brazil (UN peacekeepers) on this election monitoring team? Where were the proximate countries (Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela, El Salvador...I'll leave out Honduras, where the last fraudulent election occurred under U.S. auspices)? Where was any other Latin American county, besides Jamaica with its one vote?

Damned strange team of "first world" oppressors telling a "third world" country what to do!

Secondly, Preval, when he first ran for office, promised to return President Aristide to Haiti. He reniged on that promise, probably the result of kneecappings by the U.S. They then BANNED Aristide's political party--Lavalas--from the ballot. Lavalas represents the majority in Haiti. SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the people in Haiti DIDN'T VOTE in this first round election. Their party and their chosen president--brutally ousted by the U.S. in 2004--were NOT PERMITTED on the ballot! Why should they vote for U.S.-chosen candidates? Neither of the U.S.-chosen candidates has any cache in Haiti. They are both very minority figures. THEN, to cap it off, the U.S. lets the former bloodthirsty dictator, "Baby Doc," back into Haiti--which could not have happened without a U.S. okay--to further threaten Haitians that, if they don't accept all this fraud and manipulation, the result will be more fascist terror and bloodshed.

I am disappointed in Al Jazeera's coverage. But they are probably preoccupied with that other situation, at the moment, and maybe don't have the resources to do deep coverage of Haiti. Unfortunately, they are promulgating U.S. bullshit.

[rabs]

4. Well, well, Hillary did show up in Haiti today

to prod the election process dictated by the U.S./French/Canada (and one delegate from Jamaica) "international commission" and being hawked by the OAS.

------------------



Welcome to Haiti


With Manigat. Did not see any photos yet of Hil with Celestin and Martelly.

In Haiti, Hillary Clinton meets with candidates, pushes Preval on elections


By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 30, 2011; 7:06 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turned her attention Sunday from Egypt to a crisis closer to home - a disputed presidential election in Haiti that threatens to stall its recovery from a massive earthquake.

Clinton's visit to Haiti came as the U.S. government is pressing President Rene Preval to accept election monitors' conclusion that his handpicked candidate did not qualify for a runoff. "We've made it very clear we support the OAS recommendations and we would like to see those those acted on," Clinton told reporters, referring to the election monitors from the Organization of American States.

U.S. officials fear the extended dispute over the fraud-riddled Nov. 28 elections will discourage the flow of investments and aid to the country as it struggles to recover from an earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people a year ago. About 800,000 people still live in squalid camps.

Clinton's schedule Sunday included meetings with Preval and the candidates that the OAS deemed the top vote-getters in the November balloting - former first lady Mirlande Manigat and singer Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly.

She also was meeting with Jude Celestin, Preval's candidate. The Haitian electoral commission said in December when it announced preliminary results that Celestin, not Martelly, had qualified for the final round of elections, prompting rioting that left five people dead. After the OAS report, the ruling party said Celestin would drop out of the race, but he has not done so.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003516.html


edit to add couple fotos

[EFerrari]

5. I was just coming to post that she did get there.

I follow PJ CreepyCrowley and he tweeted about it.

[rabs]

6. What was the result of the meeting ?

Or did CreepyCrowley in his twittering merely crawl, scuttle, slide, creep and slither away from any meaningful answer about what transpired?

[EFerrari]

7. He never gives a run down, only cliches at the speed of Polonius.

But he did comment on 60 Minutes tonight.

PJCrowley Philip J. Crowley
Watching #60Minutes: No evidence #WikiLeaks influenced #Tunisia. Events in Tunisia resulted from actions of Tunisian people, not outsiders.

And Greenwald swatted him right down.

ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald
@PJCrowley By contrast, there is plenty of evidence the U.S. influenced events in Tunisia - through its steadfast support for Ben Ali