CEPR is liveblogging the Haitian vote, fyi:

[EFerrari]

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/election-day-in-haiti-live-updates

[Judi Lynn]

1. Interesting. They need every vote they can get, so they're extending voting hours,

since they're not exactly knocking down the doors to get in.

Usually when voting centers' hours are extended it's because they need to stay open as long as people standing in lines there haven't voted yet.

Thanks for the link. Very helpful. Recommending.

[rabs]

2. So, who won?

I am on pins and needles (whatever that means) :-)

Oh wait, the initial results will not be known until March 31.

The final results in mid-April.

Counting non-votes takes time and is slow, hard work.

[EFerrari]

3. LOL!

:)

[EFerrari]

4. AJ: Vote Count begins in Haiti Run off

UN official describes vote as peaceful but several polling sites delayed opening because they lacked voting materials.
Last Modified: 21 Mar 2011 02:58

Balloting has ended in Haiti's presidential runoff with observers describing polling day as being generally peaceful.

Polling centres in most of Haiti closed as scheduled at 4pm local time (2100 GMT), but voting was extended by one hour in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area to make up for initial delays.

Election officials began counting the votes by lamplight as most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and much of the Caribbean nation has no electricity. Preliminary results will be announced later this month.

Haiti's election law requires the Provisional Electoral Council to confirm the final results on April 16.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/americas/20http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA9FVmdspf811/03/20113210391955504.html

[EFerrari]

5. Aristide Returns (Dan Coughlin, The Nation)

Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s triumphant return to Haiti after seven years of forced exile in South Africa signals a new stage in the Caribbean country’s popular and democratic struggle just as a resurgent right wing prepares to lay electoral claim—for the first time ever—to the country’s presidency in a controversial US-backed presidential poll on Sunday.

“Today may the Haitian people mark the end of exile and coup d’état, while peacefully we must move from social exclusion to social inclusion,” said Aristide, referring to the bloody 2004 US-backed coup, the second time he was driven from power after being elected with huge popular majorities.

Aristide’s return comes at a key turning point in the country’s history. Bolstered by a 14,000-strong UN military occupation known as MINUSTAH, and massive international aid following the January 2010 earthquake, Haiti’s tiny right-wing elite have become stronger, economically and politically, than at any time in the last twenty-five years.

This has been dramatically underscored by the return of former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier from France earlier this year and an openly fraudulent electoral process that has barred Haiti’s most popular political party —Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas—from participation and put forth two right-wing candidates.

http://www.thenation.com/article/159347/aristide-returns