Fear-filled Haitians seeking change to vote for legal government

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Torn between fears of violence and a burning desire to change their lives, Haitians have a chance to choose a new Parliament on Sunday in long-delayed elections that would restore a legal government and foreign aid.

But a flare-up of political violence, government foot-dragging and bumbling preparations could mean trouble.

"I know everyone says there's going to be violence, and not to go out and vote, but I'm going no matter what," said 30-year-old mason Jesuslhomme Guerrier. "I'm not going to let the macoutes (bandits) run our country again."

Haitians who have largely boycotted an electoral process fraught with fraud and disorganization over recent years have registered to vote en masse, some 4 million of the 8 million people in a country where half the population is under 18.

But many voters' enthusiasm has been doused by fear and more than a dozen assassinations that prompted opposition candidates to stop campaigning. The United States and United Nations - which intervened to restore democracy in 1994 - worry their experiment to instill democracy in this Caribbean nation is unraveling.

"By turning out to register in large numbers, Haitians have demonstrated their commitment ... to the democratic process," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday.

Sunday's turnout will show whether Haitians can overcome their fears.

Campaigning ended on a dull note Friday, with just 200 people showing up for a rally of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family in the seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil, a party stronghold.

Opposition parties say the elections are being rigged to favor Lavalas and set up a dictatorship under the populist Aristide, who few doubt will win presidential elections planned for November.

Overthrown in a 1991 coup, Aristide was restored to power after the 1994 invasion. Barred by law from seeking a consecutive term, he picked Rene Preval to succeed him in 1995 elections that brought Haiti's first democratic handover of power.

Preval created an unconstitutional government by disbanding Parliament in 1999 and appointing a new premier by decree.

Sunday's elections - postponed at least four times since 1998 - give Haitians a chance to right things and, in the process, free $500 million in foreign aid desperately needed in a country where 65 percent of the work force is unemployed, average annual income is less then $350 and 80 percent of children go to bed hungry.

The vote also will test Aristide's ability to stock Parliament and thousands of local government offices with Lavalas loyalists.

Meanwhile, Haiti's U.N.-trained police force has been unable - or unwilling - to stop pre-election violence, and only 3,500 officers will police Sunday's balloting.

"Short of a miracle, I don't see how we can have credible elections," opposition politician Evans Paul said after a grenade exploded Thursday at the gate to the electoral council office, injuring seven passers-by.

The attack, he said, was intended "to intimidate the independent voter into staying at home, leaving the field wide open for Aristide partisans."

Lavalas Family spokesmen routinely deny the party is behind the violence.

From afar, the United States and the United Nations - which have invested more than $1 billion in Haiti since the 1994 intervention - are keeping their fingers crossed.

"Despite all the difficulties observed, credible legislative, municipal and local elections are still possible," the Organization of American States said Friday.

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