HAITI: Slow start to presidential run-off as some polling station open on time and others don't

Record ID: 860479

  • Title: HAITI: Slow start to presidential run-off as some polling station open on time and others don't
  • Date: 21st March 2011
  • Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 20, 2011) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH THE STREETS GENERAL VIEW OF STREET STREET VENDORS LINE UP UN PERSONNEL VARIOUS OF STREET VENDOR COOKING GENERAL VIEW OF PEOPLE IN STREET MARKET VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF VOTING STATION WHERE OUTGOING PRESIDENT RENE PREVAL IS EXPECTED TO VOTE VARIOUS OF WORKERS INSIDE VOTING STATION GENERAL VIEW OF VOTERS GATHERING OUTSIDE VOTING STATION VARIOUS OF WORKERS INSIDE VOTING STATION GETTING READY VARIOUS OF WORKERS BALLOTS BEING COUNTED PEOPLE STANDING IN LINE
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti, Haiti
  • City:
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4EVQQMG6304Z1KFIVSRPBT5K5
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Haitians queued up to vote for their new leader on Sunday (March 20) as the presidential election got off to a slow start.
    By law, polls should have opened at 6 am local (1100 gmt), but electoral officials were still waiting for supplies at some voting stations in Port-au-Prince.
    However, in other sections, voters began trickling in to choose between former first lady, seventy-year-old Mirlande Manigat, and pop star, fifty-year-old Michel Martelly.
    Outgoing President Rene Preval is expected to cast his ballot in this center near the presidential palace later on Sunday, but as the 6 am hour passed, voting had not yet begun. Preval is reviled by many Haitians, accused of not acting effectively enough to get Haitians out of tent camps, following last January's 7 magnitude earthquake.
    In the days leading up to the vote, many electoral and UN officials were hopeful that Sunday's election would proceed more smoothly than the November first round, which descended into confusion and chaos, ending with allegations of fraud.
    Polls are scheduled to close at 4 pm local (2100gmt).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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