Port au Prince, Haiti – The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) said it was on track to release preliminary results from Sunday’s presidential run-off elections by the end of the month.CEP Operations Director Louiner Jean Marie said yesterday the election managers had counted more than 25 per cent of the votes cast in the poll. Jean Marie said representatives of both candidates were following the process and votes from most of the voting centres had already been submitted to election authorities.The preliminary results are scheduled to be released on March 31 while final results are due on April 16.The United Nations Peace Mission in Haiti (Minustah) and the Joint Organization of American States (OAS) and Caribbean Community (Caricom) observer team are in charge of supervising the counting of votes to ensure transparency.An estimated 4.5 million Haitians voted in Sunday’s run-off between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and popular singer Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly.
Haiti’s new leader will replace current President Rene Preval in an inauguration ceremony scheduled for May. (CMC)