President of Haiti Michael Martelly (photo: PD-USGov-DOS, US Department of State)

Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters calling for the resignation of Haitian President Michel Martelly in Port-au-Prince yesterday after they clashed with supporters of the president.

The march began peacefully on Thursday morning as the crowd of about 3,000 passed through some of the city’s poorer neighbourhoods. Later, protesters were attacked by stones thrown from rooftops as they moved to the district of Petionville, with skirmishes continuing between the two sides for hours, according to local media reports.

The demonstrators were eventually dispersed by police using tear gas after they attempted to reach the Presidential Palace.

Recently, anti-government prostests have occured sporadically in Port-au-Prince, with protesters accusing Martelly of failing to reduce poverty and unemployment, and running the country to benefit his friends and family.

The UN Security Council recently extended its Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, which has been in operation since 2004, until October 2014. The Security Council urged the government to “hold long-overdue free, fair and transparent elections” in a recent statement.

In 2012 a series of protests were held criticising Martelly’s promises to re-build the nation and improve the living standard of the country’s poorest after the devastating earthquake in 2010. Martelly, a former businessman and pop music star, assumed office in 2011.

The Haitian Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has postponed the legislative election results. This was done only hours before the new representatives were due to take their charge, as a response to allegations of fraud.

President-elect, Michel Martelly, expressed concern and distrust over the results which favoured the ruling party Inite. In doing so, he aligned himself with the US and other international organisations.

Inite increased by 50% its share of Congress and achieved a Senate majority with 17 members of parliament. Meanwhile, Martelly’s party remained with only three members.

The Electoral Council said it decided to publish a partial list of the legislative elections that does not include the 19 members of parliament mentioned by the president-elect. They expect to receive evaluations from all of the national and international organisations.

The initial publication of these results on 20^th April sparked demonstrations in several regions of Haiti, during which at least three people died.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC.

During a meeting of the Electoral Council, half of the members indicated that there were instances of fraud in the latest presidential election. Last week Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly were confirmed for the second round run off on March 20th.

In declarations to Telesur, the Secretary General of the Haitian Provisional Electoral Council, Leonel Raphael, noted that four out of eight members of the entity refuse to sign off the results of the first round.

However, he said that under Haiti’s election law it is not necessary that all the members of the Council sign the election results.”

Raphael indicated that the situation not to sign is motivated by the particular political interests of the Council members themselves.
Last week, the entity informed that the candidates could participate in the runoff elections. Mirlande Manigat of the opposition gained the highest percentage of votes, followed by singer Michel Martelly.

Twelve of the candidates who participated in the election reported the alleged fraud.

Concerning these declarations, Raphael stated that “it is a political issue and each politician seeks to play his part in the game.”

He denied that the allegations will affect the runoff vote.

Raphael claimed that most of the population recognises the need for the process to continue in order to replace incumbent, President Rene Preval.