Today's presidential and parlimentiary elections in Haiti are in jeopardy as major candidates allege widespread voting fraud. The front-runner, Mirlande Manigat, has even called for the elections to be canceled. With international-aid donors hoping to give the billions they've pledged for post-earthquake reconstruction to a new democratically elected administration, the stakes couldn't be higher.
The front-runner in Haiti's presidential race denounced Sunday's national elections, calling for a complete annulment of the vote due to irregularities and ballot-box stuffing.
"I am asking my country's citizens, I am asking the Conseil Electoral Provisor, the government, and I'm telling the international community that as the leading candidate I'm asking for the formal cancellation of the elections," Mirlande Manigat told CNN.
At the same time, at least 11 other presidential candidates were gathering at a hotel in Port-au-Prince for what the campaign of contender Michel Martally billed as a press conference "to denounce today's massive fraud all over the country."
Sheryl Huggins Salomon is senior editor-at-large of The Root and a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based editorial consultant. Follow her on Twitter.