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NewsWhore
02-15-2011, 03:10 PM
Haiti presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat and President Leonel Fernandez met at the Presidential Palace for more than an hour yesterday. The Presidency reports that she promised to reactivate the Mixed Dominican-Haitian Commission if elected. The commission is a platform for discussing Dominican-Haitian issues. Talks also focused on trade between both nations and progress made in the construction of a Dominican university in Haiti, but they did not discuss migration issues. Manigat said that President Fernandez suggested organizing a summit of Latin American leaders to focus on aid for Haiti, the Presidency reports.

According to Listin Diario, Manigat visited the Presidential Palace at the invitation of President Fernandez. She was accompanied by the Dominican ambassador in Haiti, Ruben Silie and Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso.

The second round of Haiti's presidential election is scheduled for 20 March. Manigat will run against popular musician 50-year old Michel Martelly, after ruling party candidate Jude Celestin withdrew his candidacy, following reports that his vote count had been rigged. Manigat, 70, is a Sorbonne-educated law professor. If elected, she will be Haiti's first woman head of state. She was elected senator in 1988 and was briefly First Lady of Haiti, following the election of her husband Leslie Manigat, who was ousted by General Henri Namphy in a military coup four months later.

In an analysis in today's Listin Diario, political analyst Guarionex Rosa says both candidates are held in equal regard by the Dominican authorities, but Manigat has a slight advantage in that she speaks Spanish.

"The work program she has presented to the voters differs little from Martelly's in terms of rebuilding the country, reinstatement of institutions, promoting education, public health and agriculture. Neither mention migration," writes Rosa.

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