Haiti’s high-stakes, on-again, off-again rerun of the presidential election finally happened Sunday. Who will emerge the victor? With 27 presidential candidates and 179 others running for 16 Senate seats and 25 in the Lower Chamber of Deputies, the results won’t be known for days. But this Election Day, like the new fraud-deterrent purple indelible ink, was much improved over the last year’s — when the results were so marred by allegations of fraud that Haiti chose to rerun the contests — even with problems that included rising rivers that delayed voting at two centers in the Northeast and prevented it at two others in the Grand’Anse regions, plus ongoing rain and problems with voter registration lists. “It was a successful day,” said Leopold Berlanger, the president of the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). “A day that unfolded in calm, serenity… and, in general, this day unfolded without violence.”
Like Berlanger, the Organization of American States, which fielded 130 observers around the country to observe the vote, said it was also pleased with how the vote took place Sunday despite concerns about low turnout.
“We’ve seen, in general terms, a peaceful day, very few minor incidents,” said Gerardo de Icaza, director of the Organization of American States’ department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation Secretariat. “We have not observed any incidents out of the ordinary. We’re more optimistic than on Oct 25.”
The previous presidential vote on Oct. 25, 2015, was the subject of widespread allegations of fraud, eventually triggering the rerun. The new election had been set for Oct. 9, but was pushed back six weeks after Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti.
Full Article: Haiti’s presidential election day finally arrives | Miami Herald.