Haitians Face Major Election, but How Many Will Vote Is Unclear

26 November 2010

Supporters of presidential candidate Jude Celestin gather in Port-au-Prince,Thursday

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Haiti holds elections on Sunday for a new president and National Assembly. The nation has struggled with damage from the January earthquake -- and now a deadly outbreak of cholera.

This election is seen as one of the most important in years. International donors are waiting to give billions of dollars in aid money to a new government.

The United States has promised fourteen million dollars in election aid to Haiti. That includes money to help pay for international observers.

Will Haiti finally get the political leadership it needs to bring real change? That is the question on the minds of most Haitians. They live in the poorest country in the Americas. Haiti is also known for widespread corruption and wasting international aid.

One voter, Elexcema Okinel, says the country's biggest problem is the tent camps for people displaced by the quake.

ELEXCEMA OKINEL (TRANSLATED): The first thing I want to see fixed is for the new government to move people from tents into real homes. There is so much misery in the tent camps."

Some Haitians would like to see the election postponed because of the cholera outbreak and earthquake damage. But Mathieu Tranquilor says there is no time to wait. Mr. Tranquilor is one of almost twenty candidates running for a senate seat in Port-au-Prince, the capital.