Haitian presidential candidate Jude Celestin spoke to OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin in December.
Haiti, Latin America: Week in Review

OAS Panel Gives Haiti Elections Results; Martelly Should Be In Run-Off

January 11, 2011 By Staff

Haitian presidential candidate Jude Celestin spoke to OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin in December.

Today in Latin America

Top Story — A pop star and not a member of the country’s ruling party should advance to Haiti’s presidential run-off, according to an international panel of election experts headed by the Organization of American States (OAS).

The recommendation from the group said its verification showed that musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly had 22.2 percent of the vote while Jude Célestin, the government candidate, received 21.9 percent. The result would reverse the preliminary tally and put Martelly  in a runoff with former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who received 31.6 percent.

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council said on Monday that it had not yet received the final OAS report and during a press conference, outgoing President René Préval also indicated that he had not seen the report.

“I have nothing to say about the (OAS) recommendations because I have not read them,” Preval said, according to Reuters. “I don’t have them in my hands.”

The report also stated that while 50,935 votes had to be discarded because of fraud, the disputed Nov. 28 presidential elections could be salvaged.

“I think we should give the Haitian authorities some time. But that doesn’t mean infinite. We should keep in mind we have an urgency here, to bring clarity to the situation,” said Albert Ramdin, the OAS assistant secretary-general, according to Al Jazeera.

After the contested November elections, widespread rioting broke out while the country was in the middle of a cholera outbreak and struggling to rebuild after last year’s earthquake.

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3 Comments

[…] this article: OAS Panel Gives Haiti Elections Results; Martelly Should Be In Run … Share and […]

[…] on the country’s disputed Nov. 28 presidential election, which was marred by  fraud. The Organization of American States (OAS) is now recommending that Préval’s favoured candidate, Jude Célestin, be left out of a […]

[…] after monitors found the first round elections were rigged in his favor, The BBC reports. The Organization of American States (OAS) recommended  that Célestin be removed in favor of musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, who had 22.2 percent to Célestin’s […]

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