Via the BBC: Preval declared Haiti poll winner
Rene Preval has been declared president of Haiti, following last week’s vote marred by claims of irregularities.He gained 51% of the vote after the authorities reached a last-minute deal to remove thousands of blank ballot papers from the count.
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“Rene Preval… is declared the winner,” Max Mathurin said.
His comments came after officials agreed to subtract more than 80,000 blank votes – or just over 4% of the total tally – from the election, taking Mr Preval over the winning threshold.
The decision followed late-night talks between the electoral council, the interim government and the Organization of American States.
I wonder what Haitian electoral law states about blank votes, and if these are “blank” in the sense that there were no marks on them whatsoever, or if they were official “blank” votes. In terms of the latter, for example, in Colombia one can vote “en blanco” on a ballot, which is an official vote essentially for “none of the above.”
