Ballot counting under way in Haiti, following elections

Haiti’s presidential election finally went off relatively smoothly Sunday after nearly a year of being led by a provisional government.

Polls closed late in the afternoon, and election workers set to work on the time-consuming process of counting paper ballots in front of political party monitors.

No official results were expected to be issued for at least 8 days.

Voter turnout was quite low in much of southwestern Haiti, which was ravaged by Hurricane Matthew last month and was drenched by rain Sunday. But in the capital of Port-au-Prince and other areas, voters formed orderly lines and patiently waited to cast ballots even as some polling centers opened after the 6 a.m. scheduled start.

Leopold Berlanger, president of the electoral council, told reporters that authorities were satisfied with how the day progressed even though balloting could not take place in 2 isolated districts. He said officials would examine complaints by people who couldn’t find their names on voter lists.

Haiti’s roughly 6 million registered voters did not lack for choice: 27 presidential candidates were on the ballot. The top 2 finishers will meet in a January 29 runoff unless one candidate managed to win more than 50 percent of the votes or got the most votes while leading the nearest competitor by 25 percentage points.

The balloting will also complete Parliament as voters pick a third of the Senate and the 25 remaining members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Results of an October 2015 vote were annulled earlier this year after a special commission reported finding what appeared to be significant fraud and misconduct.

Haiti has had a caretaker government for nearly a year, and the new president will face a slew of challenges.
With the depreciation of the currency, the gourde, the cost of living has risen sharply. Haiti is deeply in debt and public coffers are largely depleted. The southwest is in shambles from last month’s Hurricane Matthew and parts of the north have been battered by recent floods.

Source: Associated Press