Troubled Haiti wins praise for calm election

[Bacchus39]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hA8iKy13_SPhangCF_JMISoVXFuQ?docId=CNG.261b2d3c66888006d3d84c66c4b96323.11f1


PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti won plaudits for holding a calm and relatively peaceful presidential run-off on Monday as partial results suggested carnival singer Michel Martelly could emerge the victor.

The United Nations, which deploys thousands of peacekeepers in the notoriously troubled Caribbean nation, where more than 220,000 people were killed in a January 2010 earthquake, offered particularly strong praise.

Now, the "primary task would be to oversee the reconstruction of the country after the tremendous tragedies that have befallen it in the past year," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

There had been fears Sunday's run-off, delayed for months by bickering over a violence-plagued first round in November, would be overshadowed by the return from exile of charismatic ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.