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Haiti's delayed presidential election takes place Haiti starts counting votes in long-delayed election
(about 9 hours later)
The people of Haiti finally went to the polls on Sunday to vote in a general election which was delayed for more than a year amid allegations of fraud. Officials in Haiti have begun counting the votes cast in Sunday's much-delayed elections.
Officials have begun the time-consuming process of counting paper ballots, with no results expected for eight days. The process is expected to take at least a week as officials tally the paper ballots by hand.
The election was delayed for more than a year after the results of the October 2015 vote were thrown out following allegations of widespread fraud.
After President Michel Martelly's mandate expired in February, Jocelerme Privert was named interim leader.
Big challenges ahead
The Caribbean nation was choosing a new president and lawmakers.The Caribbean nation was choosing a new president and lawmakers.
The results of the October 2015 vote were thrown out, creating a power vacuum when then-president Michel Martelly's mandate expired in February. The presidential election will probably go to a second round on 29 January as none of the 27 candidates is expected to gain the 50% of the votes necessary to win outright in the first round.
Haiti has suffered from decades of corruption and, in recent years, a series of crippling natural disasters. Exit polls suggested Jovenel Moise, 47, had an early lead, although the supporters of Maryse Narcisse said their candidate was ahead.
Voter turnout appeared low in south-western Haiti, according to reports - an area ravaged by Hurricane Matthew last month and drenched by rain on Sunday. Mr Moise enjoys the backing of former President Martelly and belongs to his Parti Haitien Tet Kale (Haitian Bald Head Party).
A banana exporter, Mr Moise won the first round of presidential election held in October 2015 but following allegations of fraud, those elections were annulled.
Ms Narcisse, a doctor, has the backing of Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and is one of two women running for the top office.
Whoever wins the election will face the challenge of reconstructing a country which has been ravaged by natural disasters.
The most recent, Hurricane Matthew, destroyed 90% of some of Haiti's southern areas.
One voter in that region told Reuters news agency that what people there needed was "aid after the hurricane, because everything was lost".
An appeal for donations by the UN has so far failed to raise even half the sum it set out to reach.
Voter turnout in the areas worst hit by Matthew last month was low, according to reports.
But the president of the electoral council, Leopold Berlanger, said he was satisfied overall with how voting had progressed.
In the capital, Port-au-Prince, voters queued from early in the morning to to cast their ballots.In the capital, Port-au-Prince, voters queued from early in the morning to to cast their ballots.
"This is my responsibility as a citizen," Alain Joseph, a motorcycle taxi driver in the city, told the Associated Press. "This is my responsibility as a citizen," Alain Joseph, a motorcycle taxi driver in the city, told the Associated Press news agency.
Helene Olivier, 72, said she was inspired to vote for the first time in the hope that a woman would win. Two of the 27 candidates on the ballot were women. Some hours after voting ended, a fire broke out at a market in a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Hurricane Matthew left hundreds of people dead and destroyed thousands of homes. The cause of the blaze is still unknown.
Many are still living in temporary accommodation, including in schools which were due to be used as polling stations on Sunday.
There is hope among Haitians that the election may kick-start the process of rebuilding the disaster-hit nation.
"[I want] for everyone to come together, for the country to be rebuilt," Judeline Hubert, a 23-year-old nursing student from the south-western port of Les Cayes, told Reuters.
The new president is expected to take over from Jocelerme Privert, the interim president, in February, following a possible second-round vote between the top two candidates in January.
The vote was monitored by the United Nations.