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Haiti goes to the polls

August 9, 2015

Haitians are voting in legislative elections for the first time since President Michel Martelly came to power in 2011. The abundance of seats up for grabs has generated a crowded field.

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Wahlen in Haiti Plakate der Kandidaten
Image: Getty Images/AFP/H. Retamal

After four years of wrangling, Haiti's long-delayed legislative elections have begun. The polls mark the first election since President Michel Martelly came to power in 2011.

Postponed by a string of political crises in a country still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, Sunday's election will determine all members of the Chamber of Deputies and two-thirds of the Senate in the poorest nation in the Americas.

More than 1,800 candidates from dozens of parties are running, and preliminary results are expected in six to 10 days.

Prime Minister Evans Paul has candidates running from his KID party, Martelly's PHTK has dozens running throughout the country, and former President Rene Preval's Verite party has plastered signs throughout the West Department province.

Election violence fears

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged the country of 10.3 million to avoid violence. "The secretary-general urges the political parties, candidates and their supporters to campaign peacefully and to resolve any disputes that may arise through dialogue and established legal procedures," Ban's spokesman said Saturday in a statement.

But the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) issued a report Wednesday that described a "climate of terror" and listed the monthslong campaign's tragic toll, which included nine armed clashes, several beatings and at least five murders.

Polling is notoriously inaccurate in Haiti, and election observers expect low turnout, in part because of widespread confusion about where people are registered to vote.

The length of the electoral process could help explain some of voters' ambivalence. Sunday is the first of two possible rounds.

Runoffs are set for October 25, the same day as the first round of presidential voting.

If all goes according to schedule, elected parliamentarians would take office on January 11, 2016. President Michel Martelly, who has ruled since 2011 and is constitutionally barred from running for another term, will hand power to his successor on February 7.

jar/mkg (AFP, AP)