Haiti: Voters continue to await results of elections

Voters in Haiti continue to await the results of Sunday’s presidential and legislative general as electoral officials work to tabulate the paper ballots cast.

Despite an apparent low turnout, no election results are expected to be issued by Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) before Sunday November 27.

The revamped CEP has won praise for Sunday’s smooth elections – the Caribbean Community (CARICOM Election Observer Mission (CEOM) that monitored the elections, said Tuesday that it was generally pleased with the conduct of the long-delayed poll.

The CEOM has urged Haitians to wait patiently for the official results even as political activists began claiming victory or alleging vote rigging.

At least 6 million Haitians were eligible to vote for one of 27 presidential candidates, as well as for members of both houses of parliament in elections that had been repeatedly delayed for various reasons.

The presidential candidates included: front-runners Jovenel Moïse, chosen by the ruling PHTK (“the Bald Heads Party), and Jude Célestin of the LAPEH Party of former President Michel Martelly.

Célestin had placed second in the 2015 ballot that subsequently was cancelled. The other candidates include Maryse Narcisse, who was a spokeswoman for former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had endorsed Narcisse and encouraged his supporters to take to the streets in protest if her candidacy failed.

Haiti has been without an elected head of state after Martelly left office in February and Jocelerme Privert was elected as the Interim president.

Under the current timetable, the new president will not take office until February 7.

Source: Agencies