Haiti delays presidential runoff again in electoral dispute

In a recorded message on state television, Martelly said a small group of people were trying to destroy the democratic process, and that he had ordered the police to make sure citizens could cast their vote without intimidation.

The government had said earlier it would be willing to meet the opposition’s demand of delaying the vote, which has already been postponed twice, but demanded Celestin commit to taking part at a later date.

Protesters set fire to at least one vehicle.

Further, they deplored the recent acts of electoral violence and called on national authorities, political parties, candidates and their supporters and the electorate in general, “to participate responsibly and with restraint in the electoral process so that the Haitian people can express their will in a climate free of intimidation and violence”.

Since 1986, when president-for-life Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier fled a revolt, the Caribbean island nation has struggled repeatedly to hold credible elections.

Ruling party candidate Jovenel Moise, a banana exporter, won the largest share of the vote in November’s first round elections, with 33%, but fell short of a majority. “They want to take power their way, because they can’t take it through the ballot”, Martelly said Thursday.

Swiss-trained engineer Celestin has said the government has not done enough to remedy cheating in the first round, and called the plans for the second round vote “a farce”.

Celestin recently told The Associated Press that Haiti was “moving toward a selection, not an election”.

Over 1,000 people marched through central Port-au-Prince and outside the USA embassy, calling for the elections to be suspended, according to the Haiti Libre newspaper.

And on Tuesday, observers from the Organization of American States, expressed “concern on the current political impasse ahead of Sunday’s second round of elections”.

Formerly a singer known as Sweet Micky famous for performances on carnival floats, Martelly is constitutionally required to leave office by February 7, when the annual celebration starts this year.

After months of upheaval that started with violence and ballot stuffing in an August vote for lawmakers, some Haitians see the delay as a recipe for more uncertainty.

An AFP reporter heard gunfire within a hundred yards (meters) of the presidential palace in downtown Port-au-Prince.

The US State Department had no immediate reaction to news that Sunday’s poll had been canceled.