Haitians voting in presidential election; 19 candidates running

The people of Haiti are voting Sunday to elect a new president and members of the legislature amid a cholera epidemic that has killed at least 1,000 people.

Some 19 candidates are vying to succeed current president, Rene Preval and it is likely that the election will go to a second round run-off on January 16. The winner must capture 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff

Some candidates are already crying fraud and the delivery of voter identification cards was mired in delays and confusion on Saturday.

Haiti has a long history of corrupt elections, and although international observers have been working with Haitian officials to ensure the integrity of this year’s vote, several candidates have denounced the process.

Colin Granderson, chief of a team of election observers from the Organisation of American States and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said in an interview on Saturday that he was unaware of fraudulent ballots and noted a tradition of rumormongering in Haiti around election time.

Although he predicted that Sunday’s voting would “all in all, for the most part, go fairly quietly,” he expressed concern that many poll workers had not received adequate training.

Uncertified results are not to be reported until December 7, and Mr. Granderson said he feared that between now and then political parties observing the voting and ballot counting would declare their individual candidates winners, which could ignite fraud claims.

“Because of the long period of suspense, I am sure a number of candidates will be saying they won and that could ratchet up the climate,” he said.

-report by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC)