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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Haitians brace for tense presidential elections ( BBC )...</span>
Haitians vote in a presidential election on Sunday with the outcome uncertain.Analysts say that no candidate is likely to receive the majority needed to win outright, forcing a run-off on 16 January.Some opinion polls have suggested that 70-year-old professor Mirlande Manigat is the frontrunner. More on the frontrunners Other leading candidates in the crowded field of 19, include engineer Jude Celestin, singer Michel Martelly, businessman Charles-Henri Baker, former Prime Minister Jacques-Eduard Alexis and lawyer Jean-Henry Ceant.An original list of 34 was reduced to 19 by the Provisional Electoral Council, which rejected 15 candidates on grounds of ineligibility, the most prominent being hip-hop star Wyclef Jean."Every serious analyst is saying that you don't know what is really going to happen," Haitian Rico Dupuis, manager at New York-based Haitian diaspora Radio Soleil, told BBC Caribbean. Unrest and fraudThe election seems certain to go-ahead despite growing evidence that the cholera epidemic in Haiti is spreading faster than previously thought.Four less-fancied candidates called last week for a postponement of the vote but the leading contenders want it to go-ahead to ensure that President Rene Preval leaves office as scheduled on 7 February."People should go out and vote," Mr Alexis told a news conference this week.Dr Manigat says the vote "has to happen" for Haiti to move forward.Many in Haiti also fear that social unrest and fraud will mar the elections.The security situation has returned to normal after several days of protests against UN peackeepers in northern Haiti last week.There have also been clashes between rival supporters, put down to a Haitian tradition of volatile politics by UN Representative in Haiti, Edmond Mulet.Joint missionThe Director of Haiti's electoral registry, Philippe Augustin, told the French news agency, AFP that he fears there will be widespread fraud on polling day."I think there will be fraud everywhere," he said. "We need massive participation and many observers and journalists" to ensure a fair election." A number of observers are already in Haiti, including a joint mission of the Organisation of American States and the Caribbean Community (Caricom).The elections will also see 11 of the country's 30 senators and all 99 parliamentary deputies being chosen.At the moment there are 4.7 million registered voters.But about 200,000 names would be taken off because the individuals had died since it was drawn up in 2005, many in the earthquake in January which killed an estimated 250,000 people.Billions of dollarsAlcendor Jean-Denoit, a 66-year-old carpenter, told the Associated Press he just hopes the election won't be another problem itself."We just had a major earthquake. We're hoping that there won't be more violence and more lives lost," he said.Much is at stake as the winner will preside over billions of dollars of international aid money pledged in the wake of January's devastating earthquake.The next president will also have to tackle widespread resentment against politicians and government officials.The average citizen feels sees that nothing has been done to rebuild the capital, Port-au-Prince, or to improve the life of the hundreds of thousands of refugees since the January earthquake. Who's whoA look at the frontrunners in the line-up of presidential candidates Bouncing backHaiti's football heroes bounce back after the losses caused by the quake SEE ALSO Haitians brace for tense vote BBC Caribbean News in Brief Revenue grab by Bajan authorities A welcoming West Indian tradition Haitian election candidatesPhoto Credit: BBChttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...58157517560811
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Haitians brace for tense presidential elections ( BBC )...</span>
Haitians vote in a presidential election on Sunday with the outcome uncertain.Analysts say that no candidate is likely to receive the majority needed to win outright, forcing a run-off on 16 January.Some opinion polls have suggested that 70-year-old professor Mirlande Manigat is the frontrunner. More on the frontrunners Other leading candidates in the crowded field of 19, include engineer Jude Celestin, singer Michel Martelly, businessman Charles-Henri Baker, former Prime Minister Jacques-Eduard Alexis and lawyer Jean-Henry Ceant.An original list of 34 was reduced to 19 by the Provisional Electoral Council, which rejected 15 candidates on grounds of ineligibility, the most prominent being hip-hop star Wyclef Jean."Every serious analyst is saying that you don't know what is really going to happen," Haitian Rico Dupuis, manager at New York-based Haitian diaspora Radio Soleil, told BBC Caribbean. Unrest and fraudThe election seems certain to go-ahead despite growing evidence that the cholera epidemic in Haiti is spreading faster than previously thought.Four less-fancied candidates called last week for a postponement of the vote but the leading contenders want it to go-ahead to ensure that President Rene Preval leaves office as scheduled on 7 February."People should go out and vote," Mr Alexis told a news conference this week.Dr Manigat says the vote "has to happen" for Haiti to move forward.Many in Haiti also fear that social unrest and fraud will mar the elections.The security situation has returned to normal after several days of protests against UN peackeepers in northern Haiti last week.There have also been clashes between rival supporters, put down to a Haitian tradition of volatile politics by UN Representative in Haiti, Edmond Mulet.Joint missionThe Director of Haiti's electoral registry, Philippe Augustin, told the French news agency, AFP that he fears there will be widespread fraud on polling day."I think there will be fraud everywhere," he said. "We need massive participation and many observers and journalists" to ensure a fair election." A number of observers are already in Haiti, including a joint mission of the Organisation of American States and the Caribbean Community (Caricom).The elections will also see 11 of the country's 30 senators and all 99 parliamentary deputies being chosen.At the moment there are 4.7 million registered voters.But about 200,000 names would be taken off because the individuals had died since it was drawn up in 2005, many in the earthquake in January which killed an estimated 250,000 people.Billions of dollarsAlcendor Jean-Denoit, a 66-year-old carpenter, told the Associated Press he just hopes the election won't be another problem itself."We just had a major earthquake. We're hoping that there won't be more violence and more lives lost," he said.Much is at stake as the winner will preside over billions of dollars of international aid money pledged in the wake of January's devastating earthquake.The next president will also have to tackle widespread resentment against politicians and government officials.The average citizen feels sees that nothing has been done to rebuild the capital, Port-au-Prince, or to improve the life of the hundreds of thousands of refugees since the January earthquake. Who's whoA look at the frontrunners in the line-up of presidential candidates Bouncing backHaiti's football heroes bounce back after the losses caused by the quake SEE ALSO Haitians brace for tense vote BBC Caribbean News in Brief Revenue grab by Bajan authorities A welcoming West Indian tradition Haitian election candidatesPhoto Credit: BBChttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...58157517560811