'Baby Doc' Duvalier hospitalized in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti --
                                                                                        Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has been hospitalized after having chest pains, his longtime companion and associates said Thursday without giving details about his condition.
Duvalier, who made a surprise return to the Caribbean nation in January, was admitted Wednesday night, companion Veronique Roy said as she took a break from visiting him at the Canape Vert hospital in the hills above downtown Port-au-Prince.
Roy declined to discuss his condition in detail. Asked if it was serious, she replied only, "I hope not."
Enzo Alcindor, a Duvalier family friend who was with them at the hospital, said doctors planned more tests but it wasn't clear yet when he would be released.
The 59-year-old former dictator made an abrupt return to Haiti in January after 25 years in exile and has appeared at times to move with difficulty, sparking speculation that he has been ill.
He has been living in a villa in the hills above Port-au-Prince under police guard as a judge investigates whether he can be charged with a long list of crimes, including corruption and torture, committed while he was "president for life" in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

There have been no restrictions on his movement and he has been spotted attending a jazz concert in Petionville and has been receiving a stream of visitors at the house.
Roy said a court clerk served an order on Duvalier confining him to the villa but they planned to appeal.
Duvalier was ousted in a popular uprising against what was widely considered a brutal and corrupt regime. He assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his notorious father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

By TRENTON DANIEL
    ,03.24.11, 05:47 PM EDT

Haiti's electoral council says election results to be relased on time

Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) on Wednesday said it will release preliminary results from Sunday's presidential elections by the end of the month.

Two days after Sunday's run-off vote for Haiti's new president the CEP have counted more than 25 percent of the votes, said CEP Operations Director Louiner Jean Marie.

Jean Marie said representatives of both presidential candidates are following the process and votes from most of the voting centers on the Caribbean island have already been suibmitted to Haiti's election authorites.

The preliminary results are scheduled to be released on March 31 while final results are due on April 16.

Sylvie van den Wildenberg, spokeswoman for the United Nations Peace Mission in Haiti (Minustah), meanwhile said 97 percent of the votes have been delivered to the CEP Counting Center, The Minustah mission is involved in the transportation of the electoral material.

Both the Minustah, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) are in charge of supervising the counting of votes to ensure a transparent process.

In the March 20 elections Haitians voted between former first lady Miralnde Manigat and popular singer Michel Martelly. Haiti's new leader will replace current President Rene Preval in an inauguration ceremony scheduled for May.

Source: Xinhua