Haiti protesters set fires, block streets ahead of presidential vote

Hundreds of opposition protesters in Haiti burned tires and torched vehicles in Port-au-Prince, ahead of a controversial second-round presidential vote.

Haiti heads to the polls Sunday to choose between opposition candidate Jude Celestin and government-backed rival Jovenel Moise.

The opposition has called October’s first-round vote -- which saw Moise come out ahead of Celestin -- an "electoral coup" set up by President Michel Martelly, who cannot run for a second consecutive term under the constitution.

Meanwhile, in an interview with AFP Monday, Celestin said he would not even participate in the election, calling the vote a farce with "only one candidate," referring to Moise.

Celestin had already refused to take part in the campaigning process, and went so far as to tell AFP Monday he would not participate unless electoral reforms occurred.

An independent electoral commission concluded earlier this month that fraud and irregularities marred the first-round of voting on October 25 and that 60 percent of poll workers could not do their jobs properly.

Assuring the workers would be better prepared for the second-round, Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council decided to move forward with elections but pushed the date from December 27 to January 24, a move the opposition says does not go far enough.

"We are at the end of our tether and yes, we will use violence because we must respond to their violence against our rights," protester Joseph Onsy said, as a small group set fire to tires in the middle of an intersection in the downtown area of the capital.

Meanwhile Moise campaigned on Monday, calling on citizens to vote.

"We need the passion and competence of all of our citizens, regardless of their origin and political affiliation, to develop Haiti," he said.

"For me, it's an essential criteria to take into account in the formation of a new government," Moise added.

Only 26 percent of eligible voters took part in the first-round vote.

Since the end of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986, Haiti -- already the poorest country in the Americas -- has been battered by a succession of political crises and contested elections.

Its fragile economy is still struggling to recover from the massive January 2010 earthquake that claimed about 200,000 lives.

Source: AFP