OAS Halts Observer Mission in Haiti, Citing Vote Fraud
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WASHINGTON — The Organization of American States decided Friday to pull its electoral observers out of Haiti ahead of Sunday’s second-round vote in congressional and municipal elections, citing tainted results favoring former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s party.
The OAS said it was forced to suspend its observer mission in Haiti because the principle of one-person, one-vote had been violated.
Opposition candidates pulled out of Sunday’s elections, complaining that results of the first-round vote in May were miscalculated to give Aristide’s Lavalas Family party a strong lead.
The OAS, which observed the May vote, said Haiti’s election body calculated the results in a way that gave Lavalas more outright victories in Senate seats than it was due.
Haiti is struggling to build democratic institutions after decades of dictatorship.
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