raveneye

Aristide has a tremendous amount of support in the country. He has always been a champion of the poor there, and they still love him. If there was a fair election now, he'd probably win. There really isn't any organized opposition to him and no clear candidate has emerged who is likely to win.

But he is a problem, as you point out. He's probably assassinated many of his political opponents, and probably rigged the 2000 election.

I think they should go ahead and have the election in the fall as scheduled. But if Aristide gets elected, then it's going to be a tough one for the U.N. to resolve.

EDIT: to answer the thread's question, if he's not elected, then of course respect the outcome. If he is elected in a fair vote, then let him return, but under some kind of close international supervision.