- Title: Protesters gather in Haiti to support presidential candidate Narcisse
- Date: 12th November 2016
- Summary: MORE OF PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 27th November 2016 03:16
- Keywords: Haiti elections Maryse Narcisse protest electoral council former president Jean Bertrand Aristide
- Location: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
- City: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA003584ZZ2B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Protesters gathered on the streets on Haiti on Friday (November 11) in support of presidential candidate Maryse Narcisse who is facing accusations of inciting violence in the lead up to national elections later this month.
According to reports, the country's Provisional Electoral Council, or CEP, summoned Narcisse, the presidential candidate from former president Jean Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas party, on Friday (November 11) to elaborate on the charges made against her and the former president.
The accusations came after Aristide, an ally, called on his supporters to take up "dechoucage", or violent protests in English, if elections did not go ahead as planned on November 20.
Article 116 of Haiti's Electoral Decree states that candidates and their supporters must refrain from any incitement to violence.
But speaking in Port-au-Prince, Narcisse was confident of victory.
"We have a date, November 20. And we have the date of February 7 for the National Palace," she said.
Haiti will hold the first round of its serially delayed presidential election on November 20.
The new vote, previously set for October 9, was postponed when Category 4 Hurricane Matthew barrelled through the southwestern part of the country. Villages were flattened, and newly homeless families filled schools that were to be used as polling stations.
Aristide called for the elections to be held on the scheduled date, despite the widespread damage in the areas hit by the hurricane.
"We represent the majority of Haitians, we were strong, today we are strong. And democratically we are closer to November 20 when there will be free, honest and democratic elections," said Aristide.
In the run up to the vote, the main political parties are running on a platform to combat rampant poverty in the Caribbean nation.
"Lavalas will fight against insecurity, against hunger, against misery, against rubbish, against everything bad that has been done to the Haitian people," said former Senator and Narcisse supporter, Jean-Baptiste Bien-Amie.
The presidential elections were first attempted in October 2015, when Jovenel Moise and Jude Celestin advanced to the second round. Moise was a political newcomer running under the banner of outgoing president Michel Martelly's Haitian Party of Bald Heads. Celestin was better known, having participated in the 2010 election.
Celestin and other candidates denounced the election as fraudulent and protests led the second round to be scrapped. An investigation later found evidence of fraud and results of the first round were annulled.
Celestin and Moise are both running again in a crowded field of candidates. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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