Violence, low turnout threaten Haiti's Sunday elections

Potential violence, huge numbers of candidates, and traditionally low turnout in Haiti's legislative elections pose big challenges for the Americas' poorest nation as it heads to polls Sunday, four years late.

Long-postponed by a deep crisis between Haiti's executive power and opposition, the elections will determine all members of the Caribbean nation's Chamber of Deputies and two-thirds of its Senate.

The abundance of seats has generated a crowded field with 128 registered political parties and no fewer than 1,855 candidates running for 139 spots.

The record number of office-seekers has raised concern about the vote's roll-out, following a campaign season filled with partisan violence that reached its peak with several murders.

The possibility for violence has had a sobering effect on the elections, which hold the promise of renewed constitutional order for Haiti.

"As election day approaches, verbal confrontations turn into physical attacks, into killings, into beatings," said the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH).

In a report published Wednesday, the organization described what it called a "climate of terror" and listed the months-long campaign's tragic toll.

Among these were "nine armed clashes, five murders, two attempted murders, seven people wounded by guns, two stabbings, 17 injured from stones and ten cases of beatings," it said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon Saturday urged Haitians -- in this mountainous country of 10.3 million  -- to turn out in violence-free elections.

"The secretary-general urges the political parties, candidates and their supporters to campaign peacefully and to resolve any disputes that may arise through dialogue and established legal procedures," Ban's spokesman said in a statement.

"These long-awaited elections constitute a major milestone for democracy in Haiti," he added.

Some lower house seats, particularly in the capital of Port-au-Prince, have as many as 30 candidates.

After voters, polling station officials, and international observers from the EU and Organization of American States (OAS) are crammed in, there will be little room for the candidates' representatives.

"We are allowing five political party representatives to be present simultaneously within the station," said Pierre-Louis Opont, president of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, during a Thursday press conference.

"It's up to the agents to determine shifts in their observation work," he said.

The informal arrangement is worrisome to smaller parties which fear that more dominant parties such as that of President Michel Martelly will overrun and control the electoral process.

- Turnout rate 'very low' -

Violence is only one of the issues that generally plagues Haitian elections, reducing already low voter turnout amid a general ambivalence towards politics.

"As we know, the turnout rate, especially when it comes to parliamentary elections, is very low," said Jose Enrique Castillo Barrantes, OAS observational mission chief.

"We're holding out hope to raise this participation rate. We hope to get to at least 20 percent," he said.

The candidates and parties who have sunk an incredible amount of money into the elections are hoping for the same influx.

On Friday, the last day of the campaign, trucks equipped with loudspeakers, party banners and promoters distributing candidates' portraits were out in force in the streets of Port-au-Prince, creating a carnival-like atmosphere.

Men and women who are unlikely to turn out at the polling stations when they open at 6 am are nonetheless likely to tune in as the elections unfold to find out whether the streets are safe.

The length of the electoral process could help explain some of voters' ambivalence. Sunday is only the first of three polling days before the end of the year.

Between now and then, Haiti will elect nearly all of its political personnel: deputies, senators, mayors, local officials and a president.