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Haitians hold fresh rally over election results

Friday, 11 December 2015 11:09 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 11 December 2015 11:09 AM ]

A demonstrator chants slogans during a protest against recent election results by Haitian rights groups in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, December 10, 2015. (Photo by AP)

People in Haiti have marched through the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, once more to protest the results of the first round of the country’s presidential elections held on October 25.

The protesters on Thursday repeated their claims that the presidential contest’s first round had been fraudulent, demanding an independent recount of the votes and immediate changes to the electoral council.

The almost daily and often violent protests began early last month when the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced that the two main candidates from the first round would be holding a runoff.

Government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise would face opposition candidate and former head of Haiti’s state construction company, Jude Celestin, in a runoff vote slated for December 27. The opposition, however, accuses outgoing President Michel Martelly, who took office in 2011, of manipulating the vote results in favor of his chosen candidate, Moise.

Haitian police break up road blocks placed by demonstrators on the street during a march in Port-au-Prince, November 24, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Haiti, the Americas’ poorest country, has struggled to build a stable democracy ever since the overthrow of the dictatorship of the Duvalier family in 1986, and ensuing coups and election fraud.

Haiti, which was further devastated by an earthquake in 2010, is still struggling to cope with the catastrophe, during which 220,000 people were killed. According to the rights group Amnesty International (AI), more than 85,000 people who became homeless as a result of the earthquake are still living in makeshift camps in Haiti.

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