Haiti polls postponed for third time amid unrest

[rooster59]

Haiti polls postponed for third time amid unrest





Haiti has postponed its presidential election – again – amid scenes of unrest in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Anger has erupted amid claims the first round was rigged to favour the ruling party candidate.

Due to take place on Sunday, the deciding vote has now been called off by electoral authorities ‘for security reasons’.There is no word on when it will be rescheduled.

This third postponement was welcomed by opposition supporters but they remain angry.

“The country’s problem is that the government wanted to proceed with the elections but the people are against it,” said one protester who gave his name as John.

“There can’t be elections with one candidate. We do not agree with Jovenel Moise,” he said, naming the ruling party’s choice.

“The current president has done nothing. He just wants Jovenel Moise to be the next president.”

Gunshots were fired as demonstrators clashed with police.

But the postponement is nevertheless expected to ease unrest after days of protests in the deeply impoverished country, at pains to rebuild from a devastating earthquake six years ago and to emerge from decades of political dysfunction.

Several western nations, fearing a new era of instability in the Caribbean nation, have been assisting Haiti in its election preparations. The US government alone has chipped in $30 million.

For now, though, Haiti remains in political limbo.

With his five year term drawing to an close, outgoing leader Michel Martelly is constitutionally barred from standing again and opposition candidate Jude Celestin is refusing to take part in a voting process he says is riddled with fraud.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-23

[bark]

This is a lost country. Sad.

[i claudius]

Japan ,New Zealand , both have major earthquakes and all the people pull together to rebuild , Haiti has one , everyone sits on their a--se waiting for someone else to do it ,years later nothing is done , tells you lots about the sort of people who live there .

[arjunadawn]

I was in Haiti 36 hours after the last earthquake. It was more devastated than many war zones I have seen. However, one thing did not appear different- the lack of regard for their fellow Haitians. You see, many in my profession had a relationship with Haiti and Haitians going back to the early 90s. The Haitian boat people issue was so significant that the US eventually inserted into the local politics with regard to Aristede, etc. Many of my colleagues have considerable experience in and with Haiti, and all came away sickened by the treatment of each other. The one thing that is totally apparent is that Haiti was, yes, devastated by the earthquake but that morally and functionally it was exactly the same prior to the earthquake. I will not itemize the long list of abuses or moral turpitude but the earthquake was not the problem, it was only an additional horror. Haiti will always be a failed state and an abyss for investment and aid. There is a reason Dominican Republic diligently guards its shared borders. Its tragic and sad.