PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haitians have chosen banana exporter Jovenel Moise as their next president, provisional results released by the election council on Monday showed, with the political novice winning a majority and avoiding a second round runoff.

Moise won 55.67 percent of the vote in the Nov. 20 election, the electoral council said, a majority that means the impoverished Caribbean nation will avoid a runoff and a political void, so long as the losing candidates do not contest the result.

“We want to salute the maturity of the Haitian people,” said Leopold Berlanger, president of the election council, which organized the vote weeks after a devastating hurricane hit the country.

The results follow a week of protests and unrest led by supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas Party, which claimed victory for its candidate, Maryse Narcisse, soon after the election.

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 Oct. 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.

Moise was the chosen successor to former President Michel Martelly, a singer. A political unknown before last year, Moise also came first in the October 2015 vote, a result that triggered protests and the claims of fraud from opponents.

Moise, 48, is a successful businessman, running a banana export company that he sees as a model for rural development. As president he will face the daunting task of reviving Haiti’s economy and rebuilding a country that was still recovering from a 2010 earthquake when the hurricane hit.

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.

Interim president Jocelerme Privert, who took power after Martelly left without an elected successor in February, called for calm in an address before the results were released.

He also said the political uncertainty of the past year had compromised economic and political development, referring to the $55 million that Haiti spent without assistance from the international community.

“When we spend $55 million to have elections, that is 55 kilometers of roads that we cannot construct,” Privert told journalists. “That is 55 high schools that we cannot construct. That is 110 lower-grade schools that we cannot construct.”

The electoral council said 12 percent of the tally sheets were set aside because of irregularities and were not included in the count. </s> Members of the General Security Unit of the National Palace (USGPN) try to disperse supporters of Fanmi Lavalas political party as they march next to the National Palace of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, November 21, 2016. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Election tensions spilled onto Haiti's streets on Monday with shots fired outside the presidential palace as various candidates claimed victory in a re-run vote in the impoverished Caribbean country.

Haitians are counting on their next president to lift the country out of political limbo and repair damage from Hurricane Matthew, which devastated the country last month, killing up to 1,000 people and leaving 1.4 million needing aid.

With paper ballots counted laboriously by hand, election results typically take a week to be announced in Haiti. But less than 24 hours after polling centers had closed, some candidates and their supporters claimed they had won, leading to chaotic scenes in the capital where guards were forced to shoot into the air to clear a celebrating crowd.

The provisional electoral council (CEP) released a statement urging the public to disregard any premature victory announcements.

"We call on the population not to believe or transmit any pseudo-result, even partial, that has reached them," it said. "Any result circulating on the internet or social media is not attributable to the CEP."

Electoral officials said they did not expect to have preliminary results until later on Monday, but it could well be longer as tally sheets arrived later than planned and a vote website faced problems. The head of Haiti's electoral council, Leopold Berlanger, said he expected to publish final results within a maximum of eight days.

Voter turnout in the election was less than 22 percent, an electoral observation coalition said on Monday.

The vote was first held in October 2015, but then annulled over complaints of fraud in the first round after Jovenel Moise, the candidate of former President Michel Martelly's Bald Heads Party, finished ahead of Jude Celestin, previously boss of a state construction company.

Further disputes ensued and a fresh vote due last month was postponed when Hurricane Matthew struck.

All told, more than two dozen candidates competed in Sunday's vote, including Moise, Celestin and Maryse Narcisse, who is running for the Fanmi Lavalas party and is backed by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Former Senator Moise Jean-Charles is also in the running.

On Monday, a spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Haitians to come together to fill the current political vacuum, reject violence and intimidation and use legal means for any possible challenges.

Narcisse's campaign and that of Moise, an entrepreneur who was tipped to prevail by one recent opinion poll, both claimed they had won.

"According to the report of our tally sheets, we are saying that Jovenel Moise is the elected president of the country," said Calvin Cadet, a spokesman for Moise. "Given that we respect the institutions of our country, we wait for the provisional electoral council to announce the results."

Narcisse's supporters marched to the presidential palace on Monday, where they were met by security officials who shot warning shots into the air. A contingent of national police officers then dispersed the supporters.

Martelly left office in February, and since then Haiti has been in the hands of a caretaker government. To win outright in the first round, the top candidate must secure more than 50 percent of the vote or a lead of at least 25 percentage points.

Failing that, a Jan. 29 second round run-off is likely for the top two finishers. The victor is due to take office in February, and faces a formidable task rebuilding the country after Matthew.

The deadly storm battered homes, farms and schools across southern Haiti, piling fresh misery onto the nation of more than 10 million people on the western half of the island of Hispaniola that is still recovering from a major earthquake in 2010.

There were a number of reports of voting fraud on Sunday, although election observers made a broadly positive assessment, suggesting it had gone more smoothly than last year. </s> Haiti Electoral Council Calls for Calm, Promises Poll Results on Monday



PORT-AU-PRINCE Ė Haitiís Provisional Election Council has announced that the results of the countryís general elections last Sunday will be declared on Monday next week.



The council also called for calm as the polling data is counted, requesting both the public and political parties to wait for the final data and refrain from any actions that could exacerbate rising tensions.



Speaking at a press conference Friday, the councilís head Leopold Berlanger stressed that the council is working hard to deliver the results by Monday and is aware that people are waiting but wants to do a good job to prevent another crisis.



The political parties and candidates will have the obligation to respect the electoral decree so as not to create a fresh post electoral crisis, Berlanger added.



The statements came hours after the two presidential candidates, in letters to the council, denounced the existence of alleged irregularities inside the computing centers.



Jude Celestin of the Lapeh party urged the council to be careful in the process of scrutinizing the votes to prevent another post electoral crisis after the one witnessed in 2015.



Maryse Narcisse of the Fanmi Lavalas party alleged that many votes from the polling stations in the capitalís Cite Soleil, where she claims to be strong, have not been taken for counting.



Since Feb. 15, 2016, a provisional government led by Jocelerme Privert has been running the country following the conclusion of the term of former President Michel Martelly without the election of a successor, leading to a political crisis. </s> Moise, who ran for former President Michel Martelly's Bald Heads Party, won with 55.67 percent of votes cast in the Nov. 20 election, the electoral council said on Monday. The result avoids a second round run-off next year.

Police used tear gas on protesters in the La Saline neighborhood, a stronghold of Fanmi Lavalas, the leftist party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It called the results an "electoral coup."

The United States Embassy also issued reports of demonstrations, gunshots and burning tires in downtown Port-au-Prince and Malpasse, a town close to the border with the Dominican Republic.

A spokesman for the Haitian national police said it was responding to protests in La Saline but could not confirm whether protests in Malpasse had taken place.

Moise, the front-runner in a scrapped election last year, received a majority of votes, meaning there is no need for a second round.

"We salute those who voted for me and those who did not vote for me," Moise said. "We are going to use the people, the sun, the land and water to develop the country."

In the upscale suburb of Petionville, residents danced and cheered the result.

Jude Celestin, a mechanical engineer who had led a government construction firm, came in second. He received just under a fifth of the vote.

Moise Jean-Charles, a leftist senator, netted 11 percent, while Narcisse, running for Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, won around 9 percent, the preliminary results showed.

However, turnout was low and 10 percent of sheets tallying votes were thrown out because of irregularities. In a country of 10 million people, Jovenel Moise received just 600,000 votes.

Three people on the nine-member electoral council did not sign the report declaring Moise the winner, although the council's president did not say who had abstained.

Those elements fueled a universal condemnation of the results from the losing candidates, who have 72 hours to contest before the final results are released on Dec. 29.

"We reject the results because they are invalid votes that have been counted," said Michel Andre, a lawyer for second-place finisher Celestin. "Jude Celestin will challenge the results."

Moise Jean-Charles also said on Tuesday that he would fight the results. "The outcome of the election is the result of a conspiracy by the economic oligarchy and sectors of the international community," he said. </s> A supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas party presidential candidate, Marise Narcisse, protest in front of a police barricade in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 22 2016.

Haiti voted in presidential, parliamentary and local elections on Sunday that were meant to end a year of political and economic uncertainty. A previous vote in October 2015 was annulled due to allegations of widespread fraud. Official results are not expected until next week. </s> A customer checks sugar cane sold by a street vendor next to posters of presidential candidate Jovenel Moise of PHTK (Bald Head Haitian Party) before the election in a street of Les Cayes, Haiti, November 19, 2016. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

LES CAYES, Haiti (Reuters) - Haiti held a long-delayed election on Sunday amid scenes of devastation in parts of the country, with voters hoping a new president will lift the economy after a destructive hurricane and more than a year of political instability.

First held in October 2015, the election was annulled over allegations of fraud, and a rescheduled vote was postponed last month when Hurricane Matthew struck, killing up to 1,000 people and leaving 1.4 million needing humanitarian aid.

Homes, schools and farms across southwestern Haiti all bear the scars of Matthew, which piled fresh misery onto the nation of more than 10 million on the western half of the island of Hispaniola still recovering from a major earthquake in 2010.

"We are in a political crisis. We need an elected government to get out of this situation," said 19-year-old Launes Delmazin as he voted for the first time in a school in Les Cayes, a southwestern port ravaged by Matthew last month.

Polling stations were due to open at 6 a.m. local time (6.00 a.m. ET), although some were slow to do so. Some people in the capital, Port-au-Prince, complained they were unable to vote because their names did not appear on lists at the stations.

Still, early indications from electoral observers suggested the balloting was proceeding more smoothly than last year.

More than two dozen candidates are competing to succeed Michel Martelly, who left the presidency in February. Since then, a caretaker government has run the country.

Local opinion polls are viewed with skepticism by civil society groups, though a recent survey by pollster BRIDES made local entrepreneur Jovenel Moise the favorite to take the presidency for Martelly's Bald Heads Party in the first round.

Among his competitors are the onetime boss of a government construction company, Jude Celestin, former senator Moise Jean-Charles, and Maryse Narcisse, a doctor backed by ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) said on Thursday preliminary results of the vote are not expected until Monday.

Unless one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote or wins by at least 25 percentage points, a second round run-off is in prospect for the top two finishers on Jan. 29. The victor is scheduled to take office in February.

Officials said the lingering effects of the hurricane risk depressing voter turnout in the poorest country in the western hemisphere, where democratic participation is generally low.

Haiti's political leaders urged people to get out and vote.

"Today is the day when the Haitian people are called to choose between chaos, anarchy or political stability," said interim President Jocelerme Privert, who is not running.

In Damassin on the southern coast, house after house was covered with tarpaulin, downed trees lined roads and the polling center, a school, was filled with debris and had no roof, forcing officials to move the vote to a small blue tent outside.

"The country has been destroyed," said Luc Albert Jean-Claude, a 74-year-old farmer casting his vote in Damassin. "We want the country to return to a normal state."

To safeguard voting in a country with a history of electoral violence, around 13,000 officers from the national police and the United Nations were mobilized for Sunday.

Justice Minister Camille Edouard told Reuters "at least a dozen" people had been arrested on suspicion of trying to commit electoral fraud or tamper with the process.

However, OCID, a group observing the elections, said in a initial review that most polling stations were operating normally and that they had logged less than a quarter the number of complaints registered at this point in October 2015. </s> A voter shows her electoral documents to national police officers before entering a voting station in the Petion-Ville suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016. Haiti's repeatedly derailed presidential election got underway more than a year after an initial vote was annulled. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's repeatedly derailed presidential election finally went off relatively smoothly Sunday as the troubled nation tries to get its shaky democracy on a firmer foundation after nearly a year of being led by a provisional government.

Polls closed late in the afternoon, and election workers set to work on an archaic and time-consuming process of counting paper ballots in front of political party monitors. The schools serving as voting centers where they gathered were lit by lanterns, candles and flashlights.

No official results were expected to be issued for eight days, and Provisional Electoral Council executive director Uder Antoine has said it might take longer than that.

Voter turnout appeared paltry in much of southwestern Haiti, which was ravaged by Hurricane Matthew last month and was drenched by rain Sunday. But in the crowded capital of Port-au-Prince and other areas, voters formed orderly lines and patiently waited to cast ballots even as some polling centers opened after the 6 a.m. scheduled start.

"This is my responsibility as a citizen," said Alain Joseph, a motorcycle taxi driver and father of four who wore a bright pink sweatshirt to show his loyalty to the Tet Kale party of former President Michel Martelly. Pink is the faction's color.

Police reported some isolated incidents of voter intimidation and disruptions, including an attempt to burn a voting center in the northern town of Port Margot.

Across the country of over 10 million people, there were 43 arrests for various charges such as illegal gun possession and assault. Hours after voting ended, a major fire raged at a central market in the hillside Petionville district above Port-au-Prince but the cause wasn't immediately clear.

Leopold Berlanger, president of the electoral council, told reporters that authorities were satisfied with how the day progressed even though balloting could not take place in two isolated districts. He said officials would examine complaints by people who couldn't find their names on voter lists.

In Cite Soleil, a volatile slum on the edge of Port-au-Prince where voting sometimes has slid into chaos, balloting was so brisk and orderly that even some polls workers were stunned.

"I have to admit, I'm a little surprised just how smoothly things are going," said Vanessa Similien, an electoral office worker who was monitoring voting at a school in the desperately poor district.

The Caribbean nation's roughly 6 million registered voters did not lack for choice: 27 presidential candidates were on the ballot. The top two finishers will meet in a Jan. 29 runoff unless one candidate managed to win more than 50 percent of the votes or got the most votes while leading the nearest competitor by 25 percentage points.

The balloting will also complete Parliament as voters pick a third of the Senate and the 25 remaining members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Helene Olivier, 72, said she was inspired to vote for the first time in her life in hopes a woman could tame Haiti's fractious politics. She said Fanmi Lavalas candidate Maryse Narcisse, one of two female presidential contenders, would improve the nation because of her gender.

"Women protect women. They make good changes. The men, they boss you and beat you too hard," Olivier said after casting her ballot at a high school in Petionville.

Results of an October 2015 vote were annulled earlier this year after a special commission reported finding what appeared to be significant fraud and misconduct.

Haiti has had an anemic caretaker government for nearly a year, and the new president will face a slew of challenges.

With the depreciation of the currency, the gourde, the cost of living has risen sharply. Haiti is deeply in debt and public coffers are largely depleted. The southwest is in shambles from last month's Hurricane Matthew and parts of the north have been battered by recent floods.

In Bel Air, a rough hillside neighborhood of shacks in downtown Port-au-Prince, a group of men playing dominoes said their biggest hope from a new administration was simply regular garbage collection.

"All I know is the next government needs to start picking up the trash around here again. Under the interim government, we've had no garbage collection here at all," said Nicolas Michel, a math teacher and part-time welder. </s> “It’s not possible to publish results on Sunday,” said electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa, according to the AFP news agency. “We are making progress, but we do not have everything yet,” he added, without giving more detail on the expected date.

Provisional results from the contentious polls were expected on Sunday and the Catholic Church has said it knows the winner according to its own unofficial tallies. The Church on Saturday answered allegations by the electoral commission that it was hoping to stoke an “insurrection”.

“We are surprised by the allegations of ‘systematically violating legal provisions relating to the organisation of elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo,’” wrote Marcel Utembi Tapa, president of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco).

“It is unfortunate to accuse Cenco of ‘intoxicating the population by preparing an uprising for which Cenco will be solely responsible’ and to make it a possible scapegoat,” said the Cenco statement.

“It is the [electoral] irregularities that would irritate the population and the most serious thing that could lead the Congolese people to revolt would be to publish results … which do not conform to the truth of the polls,” said Cenco.

The electoral commission had said that Cenco was attempting to “brainwash the population” through its comments about the possible victor in the 30 December elections, according to a letter from Corneille Nangaa, the electoral commission’s chief.

Cenco has suggested it knows the winner of the polls owing to unofficial tallies it carried out as part of a 40,000-strong observation mission.

“We have observed that the Congolese people have chosen a candidate as president of the republic,” Donatien Nshole, secretary general of Cenco, told RFI’s Sonia Rolley in an interview broadcast on Friday. “It is not up to us to proclaim the results,” he said, adding that it was the responsibility of the electoral commission.

Nshole said their observation mission had noted irregularities, but that they were not enough to “impede” the choice expressed by the Congolese people. “The will of the Congolese people has been respected, at least at the polls,” he added.

Catholic bishops met with President Joseph Kabila on Friday, according to reports from the Reuters news agency.

The UN Security Council held a meeting on Friday about the latest developments in the DRC. The closed door meeting was held at France’s request, but a joint Security Council declaration was blocked by South Africa, Russia, China and Indonesia, according to sources who spoke to RFI’s Sonia Rolley.

“The results that will be proclaimed must be consistent with the vote of the Congolese people,” said Francois Delattre, France’s UN ambassador, on the sidelines of the UN Security Council meeting.

The EU on Friday called on election authorities to ensure that the results reflected the will of the Congolese people.

“All the political actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo have the responsibility to contribute to the success of this transition in the spirit of peace and reconciliation,” said a statement from a spokesperson for the EU’s external action service.

The African’s Union top diplomat Moussa Faki Mahamat said that “respect of the election results is crucial” in a tweet after meeting with Dioncounda Traoré, head of the AU’s observer mission.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that American soldiers had deployed to Gabon in case they are needed to protect US citizens and diplomatic buildings in the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

A letter from Trump said 80 military personnel had been put in place with “appropriate combat equipment” in response to the possibility that “violent demonstrations” may occur in reaction to elections. </s> PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Voters will have their say Sunday in a repeatedly derailed presidential election that leaders hope will get Haiti’s shaky democracy on a sturdier track.

The Caribbean nation’s roughly 6 million registered voters don’t lack for choice: 27 presidential candidates are on the ballot. The top two finishers will meet in a Jan. 29 runoff unless one candidate in the crowded field somehow manages to win a majority of the votes.

No results are scheduled to be released for eight days, but electoral council director Uder Antoine has said it might take longer.

The balloting will also complete Parliament as voters pick a third of the Senate and the 25 remaining members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Results of last year’s presidential election were disputed and then annulled after a special commission reported finding what appeared to be significant fraud and professional misconduct.

Most Haitians typically stay away from the polls, in part because they are repelled by the chronic ineffectiveness and broken promises of their elected officials. But there are Haitians who say they are determined to vote, hopeful new leaders might be able to relieve Haiti’s chronic poverty and political turbulence.

“Nothing will stop me from voting. We all have to step up and help solve Haiti’s problems,” said Mickenson Berger, who has been cutting hair on a Port-au-Prince street corner since his barber shop was destroyed in the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Haiti has had a caretaker government for nearly a year, and the new president will face a slew of immediate and long-term challenges.

With the depreciation of the currency, the gourde, the cost of living has risen sharply. Haiti is deeply in debt and public coffers are largely depleted. The southwest is in shambles from last month’s Hurricane Matthew and parts of the north have been battered by recent floods.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the hemisphere and one of the most unequal in the world.

“Public institutions remain weak, and life-crushing poverty remains the daily reality of most of its citizens. Environmental degradation has left the population and the country’s productive infrastructure highly vulnerable to shocks,” said Robert Maguire, a Haiti expert who is an international affairs professor at George Washington University.

A revamped Provisional Electoral Council, known as the CEP, has gotten high marks for organizing Sunday’s vote with some $25 million from the government. It replaced a council that was marred by internal discord and widespread allegations of fraud.

“So far, this CEP has done a good job. Their credibility is very high,” said Rosny Desroches of the Haitian group Citizen Observatory for Institutionalizing Democracy, which will have 1,500 observers monitoring the national vote.

Delegations from the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community are here to watch the election. The European Union withdrew its monitors in frustration earlier this year after officials annulled results from the 2015 vote.

As always with Haitian elections, security is a big concern. The Haitian National Police, which has been strengthened with international assistance, is playing a far greater role in maintaining security than it did in previous electoral cycles.

A total of 2,026 U.N. police officers and 1,468 peacekeeper troops will assist nearly 9,500 members of Haiti’s police force maintain security. There will also be some 5,400 security agents conscripted by the Provisional Electoral Council to help keep order at voting centers.
The Haitian national electoral commission promises to release results of the highly contested elections between the candidates Jovenel Moise of the Haitian Tèt Kale Party, Maryse Narcisse of the Fanmi Lavalas and Jude Célestin of the Alternative League for Haitian Progress and Emancipation.