Medical and Hospital News  
DEMOCRACY
Ex-first lady Manigat aims to lead quake-hit Haiti

by Staff Writers
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) March 17, 2011
Soft-spoken former first lady Mirlande Manigat was an occupant of Haiti's presidential palace for just a few brief months before her husband Leslie was ousted in a 1988 coup.

She could return as the quake-hit Caribbean nation's first elected female leader if she wins an election run-off on Sunday -- but the palace has been in ruins since a massive earthquake more than a year ago.

"Haitians do not want continuity. They want change, to see a rupture from the past," she said in a recent interview with AFP.

The 70-year-old academic and grandmother is a seasoned politician, having been elected senator in 1988 and again in 2006 representing the Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP) party, which she helped found.

Now Manigat is vying for the unenviable opportunity to lead the poorest country in the Americas, a nation that has suffered a seemingly perpetual cycle of political upheavals and natural disasters.

Her rival is popular singer and carnival entertainer Michel Martelly, a 50-year-old political novice who until recently was better known as his on-stage persona "Sweet Micky."

A win would not only make Manigat the first woman elected president of Haiti, but it would also put the country's long-divided opposition in power.

Manigat, who along with her husband has led the RDNP, one of Haiti's better organized political parties, for some 30 years, maintains that she has both the honesty and the gravitas to lead her shattered nation.

"People call me 'Mommy,'" she said in a recent US newspaper interview.

"They know that at my age I cannot be tempted by the perversions of politics like money or dictatorship. People see me as a mature person, someone with experience, and they know very well I am not a puppet."

US-based Haiti expert Robert Fatton, said the stark contrast with the other candidate, Martelly, provides Manigat easy campaign fodder.

"Manigat will probably portray herself as the mother of the nation and paint Martelly as an adventure into the unknown," he said.

A bespectacled law professor who has made education reform a key plank of her campaign, Manigat studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, as well as at the respected Paris Institute of Political Studies.

"You have someone who is clearly very smart, but the question is whether she has the kind of populist touch that is required to win a Haitian election," Fatton said.

Manigat won the most votes in a corruption-plagued first round in which only 20 percent of the 4.7 million eligible Haitians cast ballots.

But Martelly, with broad support among young voters, enjoys a slim lead in the latest opinion polls.

With victory will come the challenge of rebuilding the country following a devastating January 2010 earthquake that flattened the capital, killing more than 220,000 people.

More than 14 months on, hundreds of thousands of Haitians whose homes and livelihoods were obliterated by the 7.0-magnitude quake still live in squalid tent cities, losing hope for the future.

Manigat and her husband, who is now 80, lived in France for 13 years, then Trinidad and Venezuela before settling in Haiti after the ouster of dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

Both of her senate terms were cut short -- in 1988 because of her husband's ouster from the presidency and in 2006 when she resigned in protest at disputed elections that saw the current president, Rene Preval, emerge victorious.

She would not be Haiti's first female president -- Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, an attorney, was appointed provisional president following a military coup in 1990 and briefly held the office.

She preceded Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically-elected president, who is expected to make a sensational return to the country on Thursday, just three days before the crucial polls.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


DEMOCRACY
Iraq Shiite authority condemns Bahrain crackdown
Najaf, Iraq (AFP) March 16, 2011
A leading Iraq-based Shiite Muslim authority on Wednesday condemned a deadly government crackdown on mainly Shiite protesters in Bahrain, saying the violence must stop immediately. "We condemn this irresponsible act," Basheer al-Najafi, one of Iraq's four top Shiite authorities, said in a statement. "We call on those responsible to immediately halt this injustice to citizens," Najafi sai ... read more







DEMOCRACY
Haiti's desperate tent dwellers pin hopes on election

Japanese baker picks up pieces after tsunami

Japan choppers, trucks douse stricken atomic plant

Foreigners flee Japan as warnings mount

DEMOCRACY
N. Korea rejects Seoul's plea to stop jamming signals

Rayonier's GIS Strengthens Asset Management Capability

Space Team Improves GPS Capability For Warfighters

SSTL's European GNSS Payload Passes Design Review

DEMOCRACY
Study: More immigrant families are intact

Study: Neanderthals had control of fire

Age Affects All Primates

Brain Has 3 Layers Of Working Memory

DEMOCRACY
New Study Finds Apex Fossils Aren't Life

How The Slime Mold Gets Organized

Study Finds Primates Age Gracefully

American Birds Of Prey At Higher Risk Of Poisoning From Pest Control Chemicals

DEMOCRACY
AIDS tests come to South Africa's schools

Haiti cholera epidemic to hit 800,000: study

WHO-appointed experts slam handling of swine flu

Effectiveness Of Wastewater Treatment May Be Damaged During A Severe Flu Pandemic

DEMOCRACY
Tibetan monastery sealed off after self-immolation

Tibet exile MPs oppose Dalai Lama retirement

Dalai Lama pleads for right to 'retire'

Tibet exile MPs to debate Dalai Lama 'retirement'

DEMOCRACY
Indian navy captures pirates, rescues crew

Piracy: Calls for tougher action intensify

India captures 61 Somali pirates after clash: navy

South Korea charges alleged Somali pirates

DEMOCRACY
G7 finance ministers to discuss Japan crisis Thursday

Japan injects more funds to calm post-quake chaos

Tokyo stocks stage rebound on bargain-buying

Japan quake, tsunami could hit global production


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement