Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Haiti commission recommends scrapping vote results

An independent commission recommended Monday canceling results of Haiti's first-round presidential elections held in October, saying they were marred by fraud.

“It would be fair and just that, at least as far as the presidential elections are concerned, the process is relaunched from scratch,” commission president Francois Benoit said.

“The number of votes that could not be traced almost exceeded the number of legitimate votes obtained by politicians.”

Haiti has been mired in a deep political crisis since the election process was halted in January amid violence.

The opposition at the time claimed ex-president Michel Martelly had backed an “electoral coup.”

The presidential election has been repeatedly postponed, with the most recent vote, scheduled for April 24, never materializing and officials setting no new date.

Interim President Jocelerme Privert was elected in February for three months to oversee the April run-off as well as partial legislative and local elections. He was slated to hand over power on May 14.

amb/oh/as

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.