New Haitian President Preval Faces Economic and Political Pressure from Washington

Interview with Bill Fletcher, president of the group TransAfrica Forum, conducted by Scott Harris

Haiti's disorganized, but mostly peaceful presidential election on Feb. 7 was followed by charges of fraud and a week of militant protest and street blockades by the country's poor majority. The ballot, Haiti's first national election since the February 2004 overthrow of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, concluded with the naming of Rene Preval as the nation's new head of state.

Supporters of Preval, including two members of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, alleged that the vote count had been manipulated to deprive Preval of a first round victory, requiring 50 percent plus one of the votes cast. After thousands of ballots were found in a Port-Au-Prince garbage dump, many marked for Preval, United Nations officials negotiated a resolution to the crisis by redistributing suspect blank ballots among the 34 candidates, naming the former president and Aristide ally as Haiti's new leader.

The Bush administration, widely blamed for orchestrating the ouster of President Aristide in 2004, was reported to be pressuring Preval not to allow Aristide to return to Haiti from exile in South Africa. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Bill Fletcher, president of the group TransAfrica Forum who examines the many challenges ahead for President Preval and Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest nation.

Contact the TransAfrica Forum by calling (202) 223-1960 or visit their website www.TransAfricaforum.org

Related links:

"Preval to Be Declared Haitian President," by Stevenson Jacobs, The Associated Press, Feb. 16, 2006

"Haiti election seen as victory for Aristide," Reuters, Feb. 16, 2006

" Haiti's Poor Erupt in Protest After Charges that Presidential Vote Count was Manipulated," Between The Lines week ending Feb. 24, 2006, interview with Ben Dupuy, former ambassador to former Haitian President Jean-Bertran Aristide

" Haitian President Aristide Demands U.S. Investigate White House Complicity," Interview with Ira Kurzban, conducted by Scott Harris, Between The Lines week ending March 19, 2004

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