Haiti in a bid to smooth its course towards a final vote after
disputed first-round elections plunged the country into uncertainty.
Clinton was to meet President Rene Preval and the three main
candidates vying to succeed him in disputed November polls, including
his protege, who has been under mounting US-led pressure to step down
over fraud allegations.
The top US diplomat told reporters that Washington backed the
recommendations of international monitors, who have urged the ruling
party presidential candidate, Jude Celestin, to exit the race.
But she also appeared to leave the door open to other solutions,
saying there have been "legitimate concerns raised by various figures
in Haiti, not just President Preval, but others, about what is the
best compromise."
Clinton, who traveled to Haiti days after a catastrophic quake killed
more than 220,000 people in January 2010, also planned to visit a
cholera clinic to highlight the outbreak that has killed 4,000 since
mid-October.
At Port-au-Prince airport, Clinton said she had come with a "very
simple message" of US support for the country.
"We want to see the reconstruction continued. We want to see the
voices and votes of the Haitian people acknowledged," she said, before
meeting with UN representative Edmond Mulet at the start of the
day-long tour.
Little has been rebuilt since the January 2010 earthquake flattened
large swathes of the capital, including the presidential palace, and
the elections that were supposed to bring renewed hope kicked off
deadly riots in December.
Haiti's election commission has said it will announce definitive
results from the first round on Wednesday and has scheduled a
long-delayed second round for March 20, with those results to be
announced April 16.
The announcement of preliminary first round results last month set off
days of unrest when Preval's protege Celestin narrowly edged a popular
singer out of the second round run-off.
According to preliminary results from the November 28 poll, Celestin
garnered 7,000 more votes than Michel Martelly, securing a place in
the run-off against the frontrunner, former first lady Mirlande
Manigat.
Within hours of the announcement, protests swept Haitian towns,
leaving five dead and the country in crisis as opposition candidates
accused Preval and the electoral commission of rigging the poll.
A team of international monitors from the Organization of American
States (OAS) called in by Preval found widespread vote tampering and
fraud in Celestin's favor and recommended that he withdraw.
The ruling party has since bowed to weeks of US-led pressure over the
widespread allegations of fraud, announcing that Celestin would not
advance to the next round. But Celestin himself has not yet confirmed
his exit.
His lawyer, Osner Fevry, said Saturday that the OAS report has "no
legal value and is not binding on the electoral institution."
Martelly's lawyer Gregory Mayard-Paul countered that the electoral
commission must "fully respect" the report.
Clinton meanwhile stressed the international backing for the OAS
report, saying: "It's not only those of us in the hemisphere that are
concerned, but the UN, the European Union, and others.
"We would like to see those recommendations enacted."
Haitians had hoped the presidential and parliamentary elections would
bring in a new leadership that could rebuild the country.
The international community has pledged almost 10 billion dollars for
reconstruction, but donors have held back on delivering most of the
funds because of the tenuous political situation.
Clinton's husband, former US president Bill Clinton, who has
represented international donors in the recovery effort, said he was
"frustrated" with the slow pace of rebuilding during a visit to Haiti
earlier this month.
The tense political standoff was thrown into further confusion two
weeks ago by the surprise return of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, a
former strongman driven out by massive protests 25 years ago.
