Businessman Moise wins Haiti election first round provisional results

Haitia’s businessman and exporter; Jovenel Moise has been elected as the next president of the country, provisional results released by the election council on Monday showed, the political novice winning a majority and avoiding a second round runoff.

The electoral council said Moise won 55.67 percent of the vote in November 20 election, meaning the impoverished Caribbean nation will avoid a runoff and as long as the losing candidates do not contest the result.

The election was a repeat of a vote originally held in October 2015 that was overturned after allegations of fraud.

“We want to salute the maturity of the Haitian people,” said Leopold Berlanger, president of the election council.

The results follow a week of protests and unrest led by supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

After the results, supporters of Moise danced to a band in a middle-class neighbourhood in the capital.

Earlier, Fanmi Lavalas protesters marched through various neighbourhoods, and police blocked attempts to burn tires. The result appears unlikely to quell the unrest.

The election was a repeat of a vote originally held in October 2015 that was overturned after allegations of fraud.

It was scheduled for October 9, but was postponed again after the Category-4 Hurricane Matthew tore through the Caribbean nation, killing up to 1,000 people and leaving 1.4 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

Election results are slow to be released in Haiti because votes are hand counted and transported across unreliable country roads, a situation made worse by Matthew, which tore up much of the south.

Businessman Moise wins Haiti election in first round: provisional results https://t.co/snLCPA4KyL

— Zoely Mamizaka (@prettyzoely) November 29, 2016

The election took place without any major security incidents. Although turnout was very low and critics charged there had been instances of fraud, electoral observers said the vote had been acceptable.