U.S. Ready to Live With Haiti Election Result

Despite evidence that the military-dominated government of Haiti sabotaged one attempt at free presidential elections and is hoping to fix the next one, the Reagan Administration is prepared to live with the results of the vote scheduled for next weekend, U.S. officials say.

Whether the United States, which has publicly criticized the Haitian government’s handling of the elections, will recognize the results depends on two factors, the officials say: that the winner of the election was not a prominent official of the ousted Duvalier family dictatorship and that Haitians themselves appear to accept the outcome.

“There is some thinking that an acceptable candidate might win, a non-Duvalierist, and we will have to work with him,” one of the officials said.

‘Better Than the Duvaliers’

Another added: “We’re not talking about a government we think will be credibly democratic, but it’s better than the Duvaliers.”

Acquiescence to a questionable result would represent a setback in the Administration’s much-heralded campaign to promote democracy worldwide. Haiti, along with the Philippines, was considered a showpiece of that policy. Putting the best face on the Haiti situation, one U.S. official said, “Haiti is between a real win and a real loss.”

The new vote in Haiti is scheduled Jan. 17. Last Nov. 29, gangs of gunmen, some under protection of government troops--and some soldiers as well--disrupted the elections by firing on voters. About 34 people were killed in Port-au-Prince, capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Since then, Haiti’s rulers have dismissed the independent Electoral Council that was overseeing the vote and handpicked a new one. The government has also revamped voting rules in a way that makes fraud and intimidation of voters easier.

In response to the violence and the aborted vote, the United States cut off military aid to the Haitian government but has stopped short of imposing sanctions that might further undermine its rule. It did maintain urgently needed food deliveries to Haiti. Some Haitians, including two former presidential candidates, have called for foreign troops to overthrow the government.

Last week, the State Department rejected calls for the United States to cut off all kinds of aid and impose a trade or oil embargo.

“Our remaining humanitarian assistance is largely direct supplies of badly needed foodstuffs which help alleviate the suffering of the Haitian people,” said State Department spokesman Charles Redman. “A trade embargo or oil embargo would likewise hit directly at the poor of Haiti, those at the lowest echelon of the economic ladder.”

Redman, in comments to reporters, also rebuffed the suggestions of some Haitian opposition figures that the United States lead an invasion force to overthrow Haiti’s government and oversee new elections.

Internal Solution Wanted

“We believe that calls for outsiders to direct Haiti’s future implies that Haitians are unable to take care of their own affairs. We continue to believe that a solution to Haiti’s problems must emerge within Haiti,” Redman declared.

Officials say that the food program will continue and that, after the election, the United States will continue to enlist Haitian help in stemming the flood of drugs through the Caribbean to American markets and the flow of Haitian emigrants to U.S. shores.

“Relations will be cool, but we will maintain them,” a U.S. official said.

Haiti has been ruled by a provisional National Council of Government since February, 1986, when then-President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled into exile in France. His departure ended 29 years of Duvalier family rule.

The three-member provisional government is headed by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, who from time to time has pledged his support for free elections and civilian rule. However, in the months leading up to the aborted November election, the army under Namphy’s command failed to provide security for candidates or to take any steps to bottle up a growing wave of terrorism that eventually caused the suspension of the vote.

Most of the violence has been blamed on members of the Tontons Macoutes, formerly the Duvaliers’ personal brigade of vigilantes.

Last June, Namphy tried to place the independent Electoral Council under the rule of the country’s Supreme Court, a move that was seen as an effort to change council decisions against government-backed candidates. Street demonstrations forced Namphy to back down, and the independence of the council was restored.

After November’s election violence, Namphy discharged the council and named a new one. The government also decreed new electoral rules that many observers believe open the way to fraud. For example, independent observers will be barred from entering polling stations. On the other hand, in an apparent violation of Haiti’s constitution, soldiers will be permitted inside the stations.

Moreover, voters will be required to hand their ballots individually to government functionaries for inspection at polling places. The requirement makes its possible for the government to keep tabs on the preference of every voter.

Publicly, the State Department has called the voting rules “inadequate.” Privately, however, U.S. officials are all but resigned to a tainted vote and instead are hoping that a “centrist” non-Duvalierist candidate wins.

Among the candidates who are being called acceptable are Leslie Manigat, a political science professor, Gregoire Eugene, a lawyer, and Hubert de Ronceray, a sociology professor.

In all, 21 candidates are expected to run in the election, including several who had strong links to the Duvalier regime.

Four candidates who were considered to have had the best chances last November, had the elections gone through, are boycotting the new election in protest.

U.S. officials say that strong public protests might prompt a review of the current plan to accept the result of the next election but that if the Haitians appear to resign themselves to the result, so will the United States.