Haiti: Hurricane damage forces Haiti to delay voting yet again | AFP

Haitian authorities have postponed presidential and legislative elections originally set for Sunday because of the havoc caused by Hurricane Matthew, election officials said Wednesday. The impoverished Caribbean nation’s last elections, in 2015, were canceled amid violence and massive fraud, leaving the country stranded in political limbo ever since. The president of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, Leopold Berlanger, said a new date for elections would be announced by next Wednesday at the latest, after talks between the various interested parties. The authorities must first assess the damage caused by Matthew, which struck Haiti on Tuesday as a Category Four hurricane with 230-kilometer (145-mile) an hour winds, he said.

Palestine: Local polls delayed for up to four months | Al Jazeera

The Palestinian government has delayed municipal elections for up to four months with Fatah and Hamas so far unable to overcome divisions to organise their first competitive polls in a decade. The postponement came on Tuesday, a day after the Palestinian high court ruled that the elections, initially scheduled for October 8, should be held only in the West Bank and not in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. A new date for the vote was not set by the government based in the West Bank, the Palestinian territory run by President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. The Palestinian Central Elections Commission and the United Nations special representative welcomed the postponement, saying they were hopeful that Gaza would now be included in the eventual vote. The Palestinians have not held an election in which both Hamas and Fatah took part since 2006. They have also not held a vote in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the same time since then.

Congo: Kabila: election day delayed to allow more preparation | Reuters

Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have delayed elections to make sure the country is better prepared for them, President Joseph Kabila said on Tuesday, answering accusations that the government is dragging its feet to help him to cling onto power. Congo’s electoral commission said on Saturday it expected polls to be delayed until December 2018. “We have decided to delay the elections to avoid locking out a huge number of people – most of them young voters,” Kabila told reporters in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar Es Salaam. “As many as 10 million unregistered voters could miss out on the chance to vote if we proceed with the elections.” Congo has not had a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Protests over Kabila’s perceived attempts to extend his 15 years in power have led to clashes with security forces several times in the past year. Scores of people have been killed in the violence.