The people have spoken; first Palestine, now Haiti??!

First Palestine, now Haiti?

I wonder how the Bush White House will respond when the winner of today's presidential vote is revealed? Remember, it was only a few weeks ago that Bush had to publicly accept the will of the Palestinian people who voted for Hamas. What he will do behind the scenes is a different matter, he made it clear that he is going to watch every move Hamas makes. So, what will Bush do if Rene Preval, the front-runner in today’s vote in Haiti – and one time protégé of ousted president Jean Bertrand Aristide - who was not considered to be a friend of the White House - WINS? Will we hear that familiar phrase – ‘freedom is on the march?’!! We think not.

Nevertheless, it looks like these elections aren’t running smoothly. Today, the Miami Herald reported that election officials and UN advisors were ‘scrambling’ to ‘fix’ the chaotic voting conditions that Haitians who lived in parts of the country’s capital. It seems that this chaos was not unexpected. Not because Haitians don’t understand how to vote, ‘cause they certainly understand the concept of democracy – they voted overwhelmingly for Aristide and Lavalas in 1990. The situation seemed to be chaotic from the start – least of all because Hatians have 35 candidates to choose from. Will this vote end Haiti’s social and economic woes? Kevin Pina, associate editor of Black Commentator and Haitian resident give The Global Blend the lowdown from Haiti and the elections in this short interview (an edited version of this interview was played on RadioNation with Laura Flanders on Air America Radio this weekend).