Daily Headlines: June 6, 2016

* Peru: As hinted it by several exit polls, the presidential runoff in Peru is much too close to call as Pedro Pablo Kuczynski holds a less than 1% advantage over Keiko Fujimori with at least 90% of votes officially counted.

* Haiti: Haitian interim president Jocelerme Privert claimed that the country’s presidential elections will be rerun this October, which is nearly one year since the apparently fraudulent first round was held.

* Venezuela: Spain’s foreign minister called on the Venezuelan government and opposition to engage in dialogue one day after it was reported that ex-President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met with jailed dissident leader Leopoldo Lopez.

* Mexico: Mexico’s ruling political party is expected to lose in seven of the twelve gubernatorial elections held yesterday including traditional strongholds Veracruz, Tamaulipas, and Quintana Roo.

YouTube Source – CCTV News

Online Sources – euronews, Fox News Latino, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, teleSUR English

Haiti’s Célestin Blasts Presidential Election "Masquerade" (Updated)

Opposition candidate Jude Célestin assailed Haiti’s oft-delayed presidential election scheduled for this Sunday and threatened with officially withdrawing.

“I refuse to participate in this masquerade that has only one goal, swallow snakes to the entire Haitian population, stop taking us for idiots,” declared the candidate of the Alternative League for Haitian Progress and Empowerment (LAPEH). 

Without mentioning him by name, Célestin claimed that ruling party pick Jovenel Moise would be a “traitor” if he were to participate in the January 24th runoff. He also warned voters they would be committing a “serious mistake” if they head to the polls, and blamed current President Michel Martelly for interfering in the electoral process.

Célestin and Moise emerged from a first round in October packed with fifty-four candidates but the LAPEH alliance and some runners-up accused Martelly forces of widespread electoral fraud. An independent panel on January 3rd noted “irregularities” by poll workers including problems at a majority of polling stations. Nevertheless, they concluded that the runoff could go ahead for later in the month.

Update (January 20, Noon): Violent protests continued for a second straight day in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday with some opposition demonstrators chanting "The revolution has started, get your gun ready." 

President Martelly said that the runoff will take place on Sunday though legislators are debating postponing the vote yet again and establishing a "verification commission."

Update (January 20, 9:30 PM): Haiti's Senate passed a resolution calling for the runoff to be suspended and rescheduled. The declaration is non-binding, however, and the election will surely be held as planned for this Sunday.

Mexico: López Obrador Rails Against “Brought” Elections

Did Mexico’s PRI political party purchase votes that allowed Enrique Peña Nieto to win Sunday’s presidential election? This was the accusation made by runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

“We will prove the hypothesis that (the PRI) brought votes,” said the Progressive Movement candidate.

López Obrador referred to allegations that the PRI gave away pre-paid gift cards that thousands of Mexico City residents tried to redeem this week.

“The buying of votes in a municipality or a town can be covered up but we’re referring to the massive purchase of votes through these cards”, alleged López Obrador.

He also attacked Mexico’s main media entities for mounting a “propaganda” campaign favoring Peña Nieto and accused the defeated PAN party of “colluding” with the PRI by not “defending the vote.”

Peña Nieto claimed earlier this week that “there are no grounds” behind the accusations of vote buying and that the allegations are part of a “campaign of finger pointing.” According to Bloomberg, however, Mexico’s electoral commission might not agree with Peña Nieto’s assessment:

Weekend Headlines: April 23-24, 2011

* Haiti: Eyebrows were raised among U.S. diplomats and the U.N. after eighteen legislative candidates including sixteen from the ruling Unity party apparently received a surge in votes.

* Ecuador: According to a recent poll most Ecuadorians would back President Rafael Correa’s major judicial reforms that will be up for a vote in a referendum next month.

* El Salvador: The U.S. deportation trial of an ex-Salvadoran defense minister accused of condoning human rights abuses during the 1980s was postponed until May.

* Mexico: The U.S. State Department expanded its travel warning on Mexico and advised against “nonessential travel” to parts of five states.

Image – Getty Images via BBC News (Last February, Unity party presidential candidate Jude Celestin was disqualified due to reports of electoral fraud in the first round of voting).
Online Sources- CTV.ca, Reuters, MSNBC,

Weekend World Watch: Pożegnanie

* Poland: Approximately 100,000 people filled Warsaw's Pilsudski Square in remembrance of President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others killed in a plane crash one week ago.

* Sudan: International electoral observers severely criticized the lack of “standards” in Sudan’s first multi-party elections since 1986.

* U.S.: It’s never too early to speculate on who will be selected to succeed John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court.

* Pakistan: At least 41 people died after a pair of suicide bombers detonated explosives near a Pakistani food distribution area.

Image – MSNBC (“People wait for the start of a commemoration service for late Polish President Lech Kaczynski and the other plane crash victims at the Pilsudski square in Warsaw on Saturday.”)
Online Sources- MSNBC, ABC Online, Reuters, BBC News

U.S. blasts Nicaragua over elections

U.S. officials sternly criticized the Nicaraguan government of voter fraud during local elections this month. "The election was not transparent, and there were many problems," said U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan who echoed claims made by Nicaraguan opposition candidates. On Thursday, the U.S. representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) called for an outside audit of the electoral results and implied that President Daniel Ortega rigged the election.

Nicaragua’s ambassador to the foreign body replied by accusing the U.S. and OAS of interfering in his country’s affairs:

"It is unheard of that the (OAS) secretary-general would usurp the state's authority, when neither the government nor the people of Nicaragua have given him that authority," (Nicaraguan OAS ambassador Denis Moncada) said.

He went on to say that Insulza had joined the U.S. campaign to "delegitimize Nicaragua's municipal elections and destabilize President Ortega's government."

He asked the council to call on the U.S. government to "cease its meddling in Nicaraguan affairs."

Tensions over the electoral results have resulted in “low-scale violence” all over Nicaragua including attacks on candidates. One report accused government supporters who “snuffed out opposition protests earlier this week, leaving dozens injured.”

Image- Guardian UK (“A masked supporter of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party, FSLN, holds a homemade mortar during a protest in Managua. Photograph: Esteban Felix/AP”)
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Guardian UK, AP, washingtonpost.com, Bloomberg