Presidential polls in Haiti on November 20

Haiti will hold long-delayed presidential elections on November 20, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced on Friday.

Initially postponed by political turmoil, elections were pushed back yet again by last week's Hurricane Matthew, which devastated Haiti, leading officials to call off the October 9 poll.

The CEP said it needed at least five weeks to prepare for the elections because a significant number of voting centres were partially damaged or partially destroyed, Xinhua news agency reported.

In addition, thousands of Haitians displaced by flooding are without their national identity cards, and will require time to retrieve or replace them, the CEP said.

The CEP called off a scheduled presidential runoff two days before voters were to go to the polls on January 24, citing rising violence and threats against the election process.

--IANS

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