Counting begins in Haiti's delayed presidential poll

Counting begins in Haiti's delayed presidential poll
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button
Copy/paste the article video embed link below:Copy to clipboardCopied

Counting is under way in Haiti’s long delayed election.

ADVERTISEMENT

Counting is under way in Haiti’s long delayed election.
But the country’s electoral authorities don’t expect to have preliminary results for another eight days.

To safeguard voting in a country with a history of electoral violence, around 13,000 officers from the national police and the United Nations have been mobilized.

Haiti has been waiting to vote in a presidential poll since 2015, when an election was annulled over fraud allegations, and postponed last month when Hurricane Matthew hit.

Some pics from #Haitielectionspic.twitter.com/6YR8r9USv9

— Gerardo de Icaza (@gerardodeicaza) November 20, 2016

Although there have been a number of reports of voting irregularities, observers said the poll had been carried out smoothly.

There are more than two dozen candidates running to succeed former president Michel Martelly, who left the country in the hands of a caretaker government in February.

The main front runner is a local businessman, Jovenel Moise who is from the same party as Martelly.

Unless one candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote or wins by at least 25 percentage points, a second round run-off is in prospect for the top two finishers on Jan. 29. The victor is scheduled to take office in February.

It's refreshing to see polling stations run by teams of women. This is in Cabaret. #HaitiElectionspic.twitter.com/ZcSeEXwOqk

— Nicole Phillips (@BuddhistLawyer) November 20, 2016

Whoever wins will have the task of tackling corruption and rebuilding the country devastated by the 2010 earthquake and last month’s hurricane which left more than a million people in need of humanitarian aid.

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Haiti extends state of emergency and nighttime curfew

Haitian politicians seek new alliances as country remains paralysed

Haiti gangs demand PM resignation after latest airport attack