Port-au-Prince (AFP) – An agonizing electoral marathon that began in Haiti in 2015 with a presidential vote that was later annulled comes to a close with local elections on Sunday.
This means that all of the elective offices in the notoriously unstable Caribbean country will finally be filled.
There will be partial legislative elections — one seat in the lower chamber of congress and eight senators — and nationwide local elections.
Haiti held a presidential election in October 2015 but the results were scrapped because of widespread fraud.
It took until November 2016 to hold another election. Turnout was a dismal 21 percent and is expected to be low again.
Few candidates have campaigned actively. Aside from some campaign posters in the streets, the only sign that it is election time again is that festivities this weekend to get ready for Carnival have been cancelled.
As with each election in Haiti, the Organization of American States is sending an observer mission.
The government said it will fly drones over polling stations to try to monitor anything that might impede smooth voting.