The real story of the 20 March presidential and legislative run-off, the preliminary results of which will be announced on 31 March, turned out to be less the contest between presidential contenders Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly than the homecoming two days earlier of thrice former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ending his seven-year exile in South Africa. Fears that the return of the populist leader, which recent WikiLeaks documents illustrate the US had strenuously sought to prevent would prove a destabilising influence on polling day, failed to materialise. The effect of Aristide's presence in Haiti in the longer term, however, is less certain.
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