Haiti: Jovenel Moïse will run against Jude Célestin in presidential runoff elections on Dec. 27

Ruling party candidate Jovenel Moïse and former government executive Jude Célestin led voting in Haiti’s October 25 presidential elections and will face each other in a run-off next month, according to official results announced on Thursday.

The winner will succeed President Michel Martelly next February.

Moïse, representing the ruling Parti Haitien Tet Kale (Haitian Party of Bald Heads), named after Martelly’s smooth scalp, won 32.8 percent of the vote, followed by Célestin with 25.2 percent.

A political newcomer, 37-year-old Moïse owns a banana-exporting business in the north of the country, while Célestin, 53, is a mechanical engineer who previously headed a government construction agency.

The pair came out on top in a field of 54 candidates, according to the president of the elections council, Pierre Louis Opont, who declined to take questions from reporters after making the announcement.

The delayed results, came as no surprise after Moïse and Célestin mounted the best-financed campaigns.

Third place candidate, Moise Jean-Charles won 14 percent of the vote, while Maryse Narcisse of the Fanmi Lavalas (Lavalas Family) party won 7 percent of the vote.

Results for legislative elections also held October 25 will be announced in the coming days, officials said.

Turnout was low with only 1.5 million ballots cast out of 5 million registered voters.

Martelly, a popular singer, oversaw the slow recovery from a devastating earthquake in 2010, but critics say he allowed corruption to run rampant and failed to resolve political divisions that led to parliament dissolving in January.

Source: Reuters