Voter Apathy Widespread as Haitians Head to Polls

Fewer than 40 per cent of eligible voters are expected to turn out Sunday for a crucial presidential election.

Whoever wins Haiti’s presidential election will take charge of billions of dollars of international aid and will begin the task of rebuilding a country racked by poverty and devastated by January’s earthquake. But Haitians’ daily struggle for food and water, fears over the country’s widening cholera outbreak, and the knowledge that no candidate will have immediate impact on their plight is expected to keep most voters away. Many Haitians lost identity documents during the earthquake and are unable to vote. There are 19 candidates running for president, but because few Haitians own TVs or radios their campaigns have been mostly limited to posters and loudspeakers strapped to traveling vans. Frontrunners include technocrat Jude Celestin and Mirlande Manigat, a university professor.