Efter a camstairie kippil o weiks in the warld news, the Arab rebelliouns an the threesum yirdquake, tsunami an nuclear mishanter at haes cowpit Japan, oncomes in anither kintra malafoustert bi a yirdquake ower a yeir syne haes bene owerleukit. In Haiti thae war haudin the furst presidential elecciouns syne the yirdquake o 2010 at sene mair nor 300,000 fowk loss thair lyfes. Voters wis speirt tae pick atwein Mirlande Manigat, umquhyle furst ladie an senatour, a lang-staunin estaiblishment feigur in Haitian poleitics, an Michel ‘Sweet Micky’ Martelly, a weill-kent musician at haesnae hauden onie public office afore.
Voters wis electin seiven o the kintras 30 senatours an 79 o the 99 memmers o the Hous o Assemblie an aa.
Ther nae muckil chynges amangst the grummil o Port au Prince, the capeital ceitie, syne the yirdquake. Re-biggin the kintra haes stappit. Local fowk grows mair beilin ilka day ower corruptit politicians takin the development siller an pittin hit in thair ain poutchies. Atwein hauns mair nor 800,000 fowk is still steyin in tents an temprarie shiels. Makin the meiserie een waur is a cholera outbrek at haes aareddie kullt mair nor 4,500 an is expectit tae return wi the weit saison.
The votin yestreen wis mair quait nor in the furst roun o pollin in November, at wis mankit bi tapsalteirie, stramash, threitin o the voters, an claims o braid-spreid pauchils. Disputit preliminarie upcomes haed shaan the governament-supportit candidate Jude Celestin wis winnin out ower Martelly fur a chance in the run-aff, but efter internaciounal pressure, Haitis proveisional electoral counsil scanced the count and elydit Celestin frae the race.
Tho mair quait, this roun o votin haesnae bene reddit o aa strouth. Wyclef Jean, singer wi the band the Fugees, an oreiginallie frae Haiti, wis campaignin on behauf o Martelly whan he got shot. Three bullets wis fyred at his caur. He escapit wiout serious injury but wis hurtit in his richt haun.
Hit luiks lik Martelly haes taen the votes o monie o Haitis yung voters at haes nae wark. Hunners liftit him as he danced on the ruif of a lorrie efter castin his vote ower the streit frae a tent camp o fowk at losst thair hames in the yirdquake. “We are living a historic moment, I feel the enthusiasm and I am delighted change has finally come,” he tellt Reuters news agencie.
Atwein hauns, Manigat, at splores hur poleitical experience an tells voters tae crye hur mither, appeals ti the kintras educatit middle class, but sic fowk is juist a wee tait o the populacioun in the gey puir nacion.
Wendy Petit Home a supporter o Manigat, an indwaller o the Cité Soleil districk, the puirest in the kintra, tellt Efe the Latin American news agencie at she wis shuir ther wud be hie voter turnout, “kis Haiti is neidin a chynge o eimage, social chynge an economic chynge.”
Twa recent returned gaists frae Haitis past – Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Jean-Claude Duvalier – furmed pairt o the backgrunn ti the eleccioun, but ther nae evidence at aither haed onie feck on hit.
Umquhyle president Aristide gaed hame ti Haiti on Fryday efter seiven yeir o exile in South Africa. The US an ithers in the internaciounal communitie thocht the popular but divisive feigur wud destabilise the eleccioun, but tho Aristide compleined whan he got ti Haiti at his pairtie haed bene excludit, he steyed out o sicht yestreen. Aides ti Aristide haes sayed at he ettils tae stey out o poleitics.
Duvalier, the notour dictatour kent as “Baby Doc” wis forced out the kintra in 1986 an bydit in France. He made a conflummixin hame-comin in Januarie. He is steyin in Haiti but haes hid hissel whyle a juidge investigates gin creiminal chairges shud be brocht agin him.
Countin o the votes is nou unnerwey, but bi the wey o Haitis election laa, the Proveisiounal Electoral Counsil, or CEP, is ainerlie scheduled tae mak the preliminarie results kent on 31 Mairch 31, an no tae confirm the final results until 16 April.
Monie is feirt at the lang wait cud gar Haitis bruckil poleitical peice tae smatter, but CEP offeicials says baith candidates haes greed no tae mak onie veictorie declaraciouns an no tae haud onie rallies until the furst results is announced. No a scoush in a kintra kent fur hits flistie poleitics.
Wurds ye mibbie no ken
camstairie – tumultuous
mishanter – disaster
cowp – to overturn
oncomes – developments
malafoustert – wrecked, ruined
umquhyle – former, ex-
grummil – rubble, ruins
poutchies – pockets
atwein hauns – meanwhile
shiel – shed, hut, roughly built shelter
quait – calm, tranquil, quiet
mank – to mar, disfigure
tapsalteirie – confusion, disorder
pauchil – con, fraud, trick
upcome – result, outcome
scance – review
elyde – eliminate
lift – to cheer
splore – exploit
notour – notorious
comflummixin – bewildering
bruckil – fragile, brittle
smatter – shatter
flistie – prone to explode or to fits of anger
scoush – easy job
A note on Scots spelling: The symbol ‘ou’ in Scots always represents the sound ‘oo’ of Scottish English words like ‘good’, ‘mood’. It is always pronounced oo, never ow. Mous is pronounced moose. When a word ends in -ou and a plural ending or past tense ending needs to be added, always add an e in the spelling. Mous is mouse, moues is what a cow does. Mous and moues are pronounced differently so should be written differently.