An editorial in The New York Times: Haiti’s Presidential Election. Excerpt:
Independent observers stationed across the country on Election Day — a day marred by disorganization, polling-place chaos, widespread accounts of voter intimidation and fraud — had concluded that it was Mr. Martelly who had easily bested Mr. Célestin. The United States Embassy and the United Nations issued statements shortly after the vote voicing concern about irregularities.
Angry supporters of Mr. Martelly and the other losing candidates staged raucous protests that briefly paralyzed a country already stricken by January’s earthquake and a raging cholera epidemic.
The country has since calmed down, but remains in dire need of a new, legitimately elected president. There is, of course, no undoing the myriad disasters of Election Day. The answer is not a full, new election. That would be hugely complicated and costly.
Haiti and the O.A.S. have the right approach with their agreement to let the outside specialists into the national tabulation center to examine everything: tally sheets, voter rolls, written reports about irregularities and incidents on Election Day. They will be able to consult candidates and interview citizens.
Meanwhile, a Haitian named Stanley Lucas has a blog where his latest post is a PowerPoint slide show arguing that the election was an unsalvageable fraud. Mr. Lucas seems to have had a busy career, but I have no opinion about him, positive or negative.
