Haiti's Chance

HAITI'S LONG-AWAITED election got off to an inspiring start this month, as hundreds of thousands of people rose early and walked, sometimes for hours, to get to the polls. About 2.2 million voted, an astonishing turnout in a country of 8 million that has been devastated by political conflict, environmental catastrophe, drug trafficking and the hemisphere's worst poverty. But then, as so often in Haiti's recent history, the post-election turmoil began. As an electoral commission dallied over the vote count, the commanding lead of former president Rene Preval, an opponent of the interim government, began to shrink. When tens of thousands of blank ballots threatened to force a runoff election, his supporters took to the streets. Fortunately, a crisis was averted by that rarest of Haitian events, political compromise: On Thursday morning Mr. Preval was declared the election's winner after some crude but fair adjustments. The result is a small but precious opportunity to put a failed state back on its feet.

It would be nice to say that Haiti's perennial combatants -- the business and middle-class elite, and populists rooted in the vast urban slums -- managed to forge this peaceful solution. In fact most of the credit goes to international actors, led by the Brazilian and Chilean leaders of the United Nations mission in Haiti, who pressured Haitian officials to concede Mr. Preval the victory he seemed to have won. Haiti's deep divide remains: Mr. Preval's two leading opponents, who won 11 and 8 percent of the recorded vote to his 51, refused to admit defeat.

Mr. Preval could make a start at overcoming the country's polarization by reaching out to the opposition in forming his cabinet, and perhaps in his choice of a prime minister. He must also keep his distance from exiled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his former mentor, whose return to the country would probably trigger another rebellion of the sort that forced his departure two years ago. Like Mr. Aristide, Mr. Preval seems to have some influence with the gangs that control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince; his first priority should be to work with U.N. peacekeepers to pacify them, and attack those who live by kidnapping and drug trafficking.

Haiti's chance at success will depend on much more than the prudence of the new president, however. Foreign donors have pledged $1 billion to Haiti, but so far only half of that is committed on the ground. The mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force has been extended for six months, but it still needs to be strengthened and to be committed more aggressively by its commanders to restoring order. Last but not least, the United States needs to overcome its own polarization over Haiti -- which pits diehard supporters of Mr. Aristide against equally single-minded opponents. While aggressively promoting democracy and dispatching troops around the world, President Bush has minimized American commitments to a country just 600 miles from Florida. He has a chance now, too, to do more.