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Haiti delays runoff elections amid voter fraud allegations

Tuesday, 22 December 2015 6:11 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 22 December 2015 6:12 AM ]

An electoral worker holds up a presidential ballot during general elections in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 25, 2015. (Photo by AP)

Election officials in Haiti have delayed presidential and parliamentary runoff elections amid reports of voter fraud in the first round.

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council made the announcement late Monday in a statement just hours after it confirmed its readiness to hold the vote on December 27 as originally planned.

The statement also said a special commission set up by President Michel Martelly last week was assigned to investigate the electoral process, without providing another date for the elections.

The decision came amid reports of people voting multiple times and ballot-box stuffing during the first round of the elections, which took place on October 25 and involved 54 candidates.

The Organization of American States (OAS), which monitors elections across Latin America, acknowledged some voting irregularities; it had initially sanctioned the first round of the voting.

Eight presidential candidates called for an investigation into the first round’s results, which showed Martelly’s handpicked successor, Jovenel Moise, in the lead with 33 percent of the votes.

Supporters of opposition parties in Haiti march to protest against election results in Port-au-Prince, December 16, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Demonstrations against the electoral commission and President Michel Martelly, as well as in response to opposition parties’ allegations of the president’s involvement in the highly-contested elections have been going on frequently since the October round.

The recent poll is the second election in a country that has failed to find political stability since the end of a 30-year dictatorship in 1986.

Whoever wins will face a daunting task when taking over from Martelly in February as Haiti is the poorest nation in the Americas.

Martelly assumed office in 2011, one year after a deadly earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and flattened most buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, leaving hundreds of thousands on the streets.

Since the 2010 earthquake, the country has mainly relied on international donations and foreign aid from numerous countries across the world.

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