International Pressure Works. Haitian Government Reverses Election Decision

I know most people who read this blog have been obsessively following the events in Egypt.  (So have I!)  I do want to take a quick detour to Haiti, though, where there is some very important breaking news.

You may recall that there was great dissatisfaction with the results of Haiti’s November 28 presidential elections.  According to the government the three top vote earners, in order, was the former first lady Mirlande Manigat, the government’s hand-picked man Jude Celestin, and the pop singer Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly.   Since only the top two candidates would face each other in a run-off, that meant that Sweet Micky was out.

Things looked a bit shifty so the Organization of American States investigated and found that Martelly actually won more votes than Celestin.  That was about two weeks ago. Since then, the Haitian government has been dragging its feet, seemingly unwilling to accept the defeat of their preferred candidate.  The international community began piling on the pressure, including this strong statement from Susan Rice.

Finally, today, the government relented and announced that Manigat and Sweet Micky would face each other in a run-off next month.  This announcement came just a few hours ago.  The UN was preparing for some civil unrest — not unreasonable considering the protests that occurred following the disputed presidential election.  But so far none of the regular Haiti twitter sources are reporting much action. Let’s hope it stays that way.