Man launches Haitian presidential bid. Demokrasy an aksyon.

Man launches Haitian presidential bid

STAMFORD - Stamford might seem an improbable place to launch a bid to become the president of Haiti, but one city resident has done exactly that.

Francois Turnier, a 45-year-old Haitian immigrant who lives on the East Side, wants to get his name on the 2010 ballot.

"Or 2011," he said, sitting in his living room. Haiti has a habit of delaying elections, he said.

A limousine driver by trade, Turnier said he has no political experience, but he has long wanted to change the way his country is governed.

Turnier said he travels to the capital city of Port-au-Prince every couple of months to check on a tire business that he runs.

With more than 8 million inhabitants, Haiti is considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Feuding politicians have fostered an ineffective bureaucracy, and most Haitians seem to look skeptically on government's ability to help them.

Turnier, a father of three with an easy smile, seems undaunted by the challenge.

"I will be the bridge to unify the country," he said.

When it comes to policies he would like to enact, Turnier turns vague.

With the help of a friend, Turnier sent a statement to local news outlets, including Channel 12.

He has experience being in front of cameras. In his spare time, he produces and stars in small-budget Haitian films. He also appears on a cable access show.

Nevertheless, Saturday found him waiting expectantly in a suit and tie at the appointed news conference location, a lounge inside a residential building in the city's downtown.

Afterward, like any good politician, he spent time shaking hands.

"They asked me about my program," he later said. "What I'm going to, how I'm going to do it."

Pressed for his qualifications, Turnier replied, "My good sense, my vision, my talent, everything that I have."

He said that he planned to take his campaign on the road across the country and even as far as France.

Extrait du Stamford Advocate