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Haiti

Aristide party threatents to boycott Haiti poll

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Aug 22 (Reuters) - The party of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide said on Monday it would boycott elections later this year if a parish priest it views as its likely presidential candidate is not released from jail.

Gerald Gilles, a leader of a moderate faction of Haiti's leading opposition party, the Lavalas Family, said Father Gerard Jean-Juste was the most popular figure in the party. Jean-Juste was jailed a month ago by the interim Haitian government in connection with the murder of a journalist.

"After several consultations, the masses that we represent and the base of the party claim Father Jean-Juste as their presidential candidate. So he will be our candidate," Gilles told Reuters.

"We say loud and clear (that) we'll boycott the elections if Jean-Juste, and many other political prisoners that are potential candidates for our party, are not released."

Jean-Juste, a fiery orator who has also lived in the United States and is well known in Miami for defending Haitian immigrants' rights, has not indicated if he would run in the elections scheduled for later this year to restore democracy to the poor Caribbean country.

The priest has instead insisted that Aristide be allowed to return before Lavalas take part in the elections. Aristide, himself a former priest, was ousted in February 2004 after an armed revolt and amid accusations of corruption and despotism.

Haiti has been torn by continuing political and criminal violence since Aristide's ouster, despite the presence of more than 7,000 Brazilian-led U.N. troops and international police.

Jean-Juste was arrested on July 21 on allegations he had played a role in the kidnapping and the killing on July 14 of journalist Jacques Roche.

The priest has rejected the accusations and said he was in Miami when the crime was committed. Like other senior Lavalas figures who have been put in prison by the interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, Jean-Juste says the accusations are politically motivated.

Gilles and other leaders of a moderate wing of Lavalas angered many party supporters when they registered Lavalas for the elections, scheduled for November.

But party officials said they had made an effort to unify Lavalas and the decision by moderates to designate Jean-Juste as their likely presidential candidate was welcomed by more radical members. The United Nations has also urged Lavalas to participate in the election.