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Election fraud alleged by candidates for Haiti president
Haiti's much-anticipated presidential election ended Sunday as broken as the buildings around the capital city, with protests flaring across the country and nearly all the major candidates calling for the results to be tossed out amid "massive fraud."
The day's events took a sharp turn toward chaos before the polls closed, when 12 of the 19 candidates on Sunday's ballot appeared together at a raucous afternoon news conference to accuse the government of President Rene Preval of trying to steal the election and install his chosen candidate, Jude Celestin.
"We are asking the men and women of Haiti to organize peacefully against the Preval government," their statement read. "We are asking everyone to mobilize."
Sunday's fraud allegations sent U.S. officials, foreign observers and humanitarian organizations scrambling to salvage the election process, which had been billed as a critical step toward installing a legitimate government that could oversee the earthquake-devastated country's reconstruction and manage billions in still-undelivered foreign aid.
Foreign governments and international groups have pledged about $5 billion in additional aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake. They are waiting to see whether Haiti will have a legitimate government capable of administering those funds and rebuilding the country. More than a million people are living in tent camps, and a cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,500 and sickened about 25,000.