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Scuffles break out as Haitians cast votes
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-08 08:46
Scuffles broke out and polling stations opened hours late Tuesday as masses
of Haitians waited — sometimes in mile-long lines — to vote under the protection
of U.N. peacekeepers crouching behind machine guns and patrolling alongside
armored vehicles.
Outside the gang-controlled Cite Soleil slum, frustrated voters pounded on
empty ballot boxes and chanted, "It's time for Cite Soleil to vote!"
Rene Preval, a 63-year-old former president backed by many poor Haitians, is
the front-runner, according to pre-election polls. In an interview with The
Associated Press, he said "people are investing everything in this election."
Among 33 other presidential candidates are a factory owner whose slogan is
"Order, Discipline, Work," and another former president ousted in a coup.
A woman struggles as people force their way
past a gate at a polling station while trying to cast their vote during
primary elections in the town of Marmelade, Haiti on Tuesday Feb. 7,
2006.[AP] | Turnout for the vote — called a key
step toward steering this bloodied, impoverished nation away from collapse — all
but overwhelmed electoral officials. At dawn, when the 800 polling stations were
supposed to open, it immediately became apparent the day would not go smoothly.
In the upscale Petionville suburb of the capital, members of a crowd of
thousands of voters stormed a voting station. Several women fainted.
"The people have voted massively," Juan Gabriel Valdes, a U.N. special envoy,
said after election officials extended the voting period by several hours.
Government officials sought to maintain calm, assuring Haitians that everyone
would have a chance to vote. By mid-afternoon, the process appeared more
orderly. U.N. troops were deployed in force.
Election authorities said the problems were largely limited to
Port-au-Prince. By early afternoon, all polls across this country of 8.3 million
were open, said U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst.
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