Haiti voting centres damaged

With just one month to go until Haiti holds its first round of delayed presidential elections, the country’s top electoral official says only 15 percent of voting centres are operational.

Voting centres were damaged when hurricane Matthew hit the country.

“Of 106 voting centres in the Grand’Anse department, only 16 are ready for elections. However, most of the 16 functioning voting centres are being used as provisional shelters”, Leopold Berlanger, President of Haiti’s Electoral council told journalists.

Haiti voted in first-round elections in October 2015, but results were disputed by numerous candidates.

After months of protests and political wrangling, a commission found fraud and recommended another vote.

Officials scheduled repeat elections to take place on October 9 but they were delayed because of the hurricane.

Earlier this month, the country’s electoral council rescheduled the election for November 20.

The second round runoff is set for January 29, 2017.

Reuters