Crowded presidential field on final day to register for Haiti election
Aristide's party choice Rev Gerard Jean-Juste barred |
AP
Friday, September 16, 2005
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Eighteen candidates have registered to run for president of Haiti, and more last-minute hopefuls were expected to come forward yesterday - the deadline to participate in the November 20 elections.
The election will be the country's first since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced from power following a violent uprising in February 2004. It was also the last day to register to vote, but the deadline has been extended several times amid the violence that has paralysed the country.
Most of the registered candidates so far are officials from past regimes. The Provisional Electoral Council has barred the candidacy of the Rev Gerard Jean-Juste, a prominent figure in Aristide's Lavalas Family Party, because he is in prison and can't register in person.
Those who have registered to run for president include former President Leslie Manigat, who was ousted by the army in 1988 after five months in power; Evans Paul, a former mayor of Port-au-Prince who was arrested and tortured several times under former dictatorships; and former Sen Paul Denis, who headed a committee investigating corruption in Aristide's government.
In addition, the list features Guy Philippe, a former soldier who helped lead the rebellion that toppled Aristide; Hubert Deronceray, a minister under the Jean-Claude Duvalier dictatorship who has run for the presidency four times; and Marc Bazin, who served as prime minister after Aristide was ousted the first time, in 1991.
Radio newscasts said former President Rene Preval and Dumarsais Simeus, a wealthy US businessman who was born in Haiti, were expected to register before the end of the day.
The deadline has been postponed several times, amid the politically related violence that has claimed more than 1,000 lives since Aristide was forced into exile.
Some 2.2 million people, about half of those eligible, have registered to vote in the election, which will be followed by a runoff on January 3 if no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the vote.
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