Haiti: A Haitian electoral court yesterday ordered authorities to test the reliability of last month's disputed presidential election results by conducting a random sample of vote count sheets.
The early yesterday ruling by the National Electoral Litigation Office ordered an immediate audit of 12 percent of vote tallies nationwide, watched by Haitian and international monitors.
The panel's binding decision said the partial review was necessary to "shine a light" on the tabulation process at a warehouse computer centre guarded by armed UN peacekeepers in Port-au-Prince. It declined a full recount or other measures sought by lawyers for three losing candidates alleging electoral fraud and errors in the tabulation process. The lawyers have asserted that some tally sheets were unfairly authorised even though voters didn't sign their ballots or mark them with fingerprints.
