HAITI-ELECTIONS/PREPS Haitians ponder future president ahead of troubled elections

Record ID: 135555

  • Title: HAITI-ELECTIONS/PREPS Haitians ponder future president ahead of troubled elections
  • Date: 24th October 2015
  • Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (OCTOBER 23, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OF CANDIDATE MARYSE NARCISSE FORMER HAITIAN PRESIDENT JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE WITH NARCISSE DURING CAMPAIGNING VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS AT RALLY SUPPORTER WITH FLAG WITH IMAGE OF ARISTIDE AND NARCISSE MORE OF NARCISSE SUPPORTERS SUPPORTER OF NARCISSE STANDING NEXT TO CAR DURING RALLY (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) LOCAL RESIDENT, RICHE SAUVEUR, SAYING: "I want Maryse Narcisse because I see a change in her face, what the youth of Gueto (impoverished neighbourhood) want and what the people of the streets need. Since I was a child I saw men directing the country and they haven't done anything serious. Let's try a woman." VARIOUS OF HAITI, STILL WITH DAMAGE FROM EARTHQUAKE VARIOUS OF CAMPAIGN POSTERS WOMAN SELLING GOODS ON THE STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HAITIAN RESIDENT, JOSEPH PRADEL, SAYING: "These elections are very important for us and also for the person who is elected because there are many problems to resolve. We know that the next president can't do everything but they need to resolve essential issues for example health, drinking water, electricity and education is very important for the people." VARIOUS OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE CAMPAIGN POSTERS VARIOUS OF MEN WITH PICTURES OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES MORE OF CAMPAIGN POSTERS CHILDREN WALKING IN FRONT OF POSTERS
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA560GGY7IXHH2IS13X4S69UBUD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Voters in Haiti go to the polls on Sunday (October 4) with ballot papers crammed with 54 candidates seeking to become the next president of the hemisphere's poorest country.
    The vote to succeed President Michel Martelly next February is being held in a climate of insecurity and a shrinking United Nations peacekeeping force, and coincides with legislative and municipal elections.
    The winner will most likely emerge from the top three candidates, led by Jude Célestin, a Swiss-educated mechanical engineer who headed a government construction agency and is running under the LAPEH Party (Alternative League for Progress and Emancipation of Haiti).
    Amongst the outside shots seeking the presidency is Maryse Narcisse, a leader member of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas populist political movement.
    Some voters see Narcisse as a chance to break Haiti's traditional male-dominated political history.
    "I want Maryse Narcisse because I see a change in her face, what the youth of Gueto (impoverished neighbourhood) want and what the people of the streets need. Since I was a child I saw men directing the country and they haven't done anything serious. Let's try a woman," said voter, Riche Sauveur.
    Other candidates on the ballot include Jovenel Moïse, owner of a large banana exporting business in the north of the country, who is the candidate for Martelly's Parti Haitien Tet Kale (Haitian Party of Bald Heads), and former Senator Moise Jean-Charles, an outspoken critic of Martelly, represents the Platform Petit Dessalines (Children of Dessalines) ticket.
    Outgoing President Michel Martelly, a popular singer by profession, shook up the political order with his election victory in 2011 and accelerated rebuilding after a 2010 earthquake had levelled much of the capital. But critics say he failed to halt to corruption and political infighting, which has held back foreign investment over the last couple of years.
    "These elections are very important for us and also for the person who is elected because there are many problems to resolve. We know that the next president can't do everything but they need to resolve essential issues for example health, drinking water, electricity and education is very important for the people," said voter, Joseph Pradel.
    The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti already struggles to feed its population of 10.4 million, and 600,000 Haitians already rely on international food aid to survive, according to the United Nations.
    Half of the population live on less than $1 a day and many Haitians spend the bulk of their income on food.
    The legislative vote is also crucial as Haiti's parliament dissolved in January after two missed elections left the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies without a quorum when the terms of sitting members ran out.
    Recent political instability over gas prices, allegations of corruption and the vacuum caused by the lack of a legislative branch, have undermined confidence in efforts by the international community to put Haiti back on its feet after the 2010 earthquake.
    Security is being tightened after violence disrupted voting in August during the first round of legislative voting. But Haiti's 12,000-strong U.N.-backed National Police lacks the numbers and resources to cope if things get out of hand.
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