That Was Quick, or File Under: Hatian Election Riots

Haiti protesters rampage against election results  Excerpts -Italics:

Thousands of protesters rampaged through Haiti's capital and other cities on Wednesday, hurling stones and wrecking property in a wave of unrest against election results they say were rigged by the ruling government coalition.


At least two people were killed in the flaring violence, which appeared to dash international hopes that the U.N.-backed elections held on November 28 could create a stable new leadership for Haiti, an impoverished nation struggling to recover from a devastating January earthquake.


Port-au-Prince descended into chaos as supporters of popular musician and presidential candidate Michel Martelly, who failed to qualify for an election run-off in results announced by electoral authorities, set up burning barricades of timber, boulders and flaming tires across the city.
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Haiti's outgoing President Rene Preval, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon all appealed for calm, urging election candidates with grievances to address them through the legal channels provided by the country's electoral laws.  (This is funny, right?)


"Breaking everything, destroying everything is not going to solve the problem," Preval said in Port-au-Prince.
And:
Preliminary results from the turbulent November 28 elections announced late on Tuesday showed former first lady Mirlande Manigat and Preval's protege, Jude Celestin, going through to the January run-off, with Martelly narrowly in third place and so excluded


But these results flew in the face of voting returns previously cited by media and Haitian election observers that had shown Manigat and Martelly as the two run-off qualifiers, not government technocrat Celestin. Martelly had already accused Preval and Celestin of trying to rig the results.


The United States, through its embassy in Port-au-Prince, cast doubt on the CEP results late on Tuesday, saying it was concerned they were "inconsistent with" vote counts observed by "numerous domestic and international observers."


Why get mad when so many things in Haiti are flammable?


The protesters in Port-au-Prince set fire to the headquarters of Preval's ruling (Inite) coalition. Businesses and schools stayed closed and many fearful residents stayed home, off the rubble-strewn streets. There was no traffic apart from an occasional police or U.N. vehicle.
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Plumes of black smoke rose above the sprawling, crowded city, which bears the scars of the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people in the Western Hemisphere's poorest state. Haiti is also battling a cholera epidemic.
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The protests erupted in the Petionville, Delmas and Canape Vert districts of the capital, among other areas.
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Local radio reported protests in the southern town of Les Cayes in which Martelly supporters burned down government buildings, including the tax and customs offices.
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Enraged Martelly supporters tore down, or hurled stones at election posters of Celestin and also of Manigat.
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"Hang Preval!" other protesters yelled.

So much for holding on to social order..  Again, the runoff election isn't scheduled until January 16th, so likely we'll more variations of this story..