HAITI was poised last night to elect a new president, but even as René Préval prepared for victory, millions of his supporters were already demanding to know whether he would allow Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return from exile.
Mr Préval, a former President, looked set to win a landslide victory in the first elections since Mr Aristide fled in the face of an armed rebellion two years ago, but in a country with the shadow of Mr Aristide, in exile in South Africa, still looming menacingly across it. Mr Preval, a former protégé of Mr Aristide, drew huge support in Thursday’s election from the poor, and from the armed gangs who rule the shantytowns in the capital Port-au-Prince — the same people who propelled Mr Aristide to power in democratic elections in 1990.
Last night Mr Préval looked set to win at least 60 per cent of the vote, with his nearest rival trailing with barely 13 per cent, after an election declared free and fair by international observers. Mr Préval has distanced himself from Mr Aristide, whose presidency was destroyed by a coalition of the country’s elites, and his dysfunctional descent into corruption. Mr Préval, who was P resident between 1996 and 2001 — the only Haitian in 200 years to be democratically elected and serve out a full term — will inherit a country beset with problems. Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. The unemployment rate is 80 per cent, 55 per cent live on less than $1 a day, life expectancy is 52, the police force is violent and corrupt, and Port-au-Prince’s worst slums are no-go areas ruled by armed gangs.
But he is already being dogged by one overwhelming issue: Mr Aristide’s future. In an interview with The Times last week Mr Préval said that Mr Aristide was still a Haitian citizen, “and no Haitian needs a visa to leave or return to his country”. Analysts believe that a return by Mr Aristide would be deeply destabilising and polarising, and would destroy Mr Préval ‘s hopes of reaching out to Haiti’s business elites, the masses, and the international community.
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the South African Foreign Minister, said yesterday that his country would look at conditions in Haiti in the coming weeks to see whether it was safe for Mr Aristide to return.
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Mr Aristide, in an interview with The Times soon after his arrival in South Africa in May 2004, left little doubt about his ambition.
“It is a must that I return, and I am confident that I will,” he said. “My return is demanded by the people. It is necessary to show them democracy can prevail and they will never be slaves again.”