Haiti: Election results delayed until Thursday

Haiti voters will have to wait until Thursday to learn who won last weeks presidential elections or advanced into a December 27 runoff.

The head of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, Pierre-Louis Opont, revealed that publication of the results have been postponed until Thursday to take into account all of the complaints that have been received.

Preliminary results for the October 25 first round of presidential elections, legislative runoffs, and mayors were supposed to be released Tuesday. But in recent days, 162 complaints have been logged by the 9-member elections council, which announced a commission made up of members to address the complaints.

For the past nine days, some 800 workers and 28 lawyers have been working around-the-clock inside a vote-tabulation center reviewing tally sheets from the 13,275 polling stations from around the country.

As of Monday afternoon, they had treated 95.33 percent, or 12,801, of the presidential sheets. Of that number, 349 had been set aside because of fraud or suspicious tallying, according to the data published by the tabulation center.

The recent poll is the second election in a country that has failed to find political stability since the end of a 30-year dictatorship in 1986.

Out-going president, Michel Martelly assumed office in 2011 – the year after a deadly earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and flattened most buildings in the capital.

While regional observers and Haitian Prime Minister Evans Paul praised the elections, an avalanche of accusations and rumors about a tainted vote has emerged. There were also reports of people voting multiple times.

Some 54 candidates ran for president, including government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise and opposition candidates Jude Célestin, Moise Jean-Charles, and Dr. Maryse Narcisse. All 4 believe they had a strong enough showing to either have won in the first round with 50 percent plus one or 25 percent more votes than the nearest competitor.

The next president of Haiti is expected to face huge challenges including a faltering economy the elimination of the cholera scourge that was introduced by the United Nations peace keeping forces.