Candidates formally challenge Haiti presidential election

Three Haitian presidential candidates have formally contested the election's preliminary results, their parties said today, after the vote count gave the ruling party's Jovenel Moise victory in last month's first-round voting.
Jude Celestin, Moise Jean-Charles and Maryse Narcisse are challenging the tally giving more than 55 per cent of the vote to Moise, chosen by former president Michel Martelly to represent his party, Tet Kale (PHTK).
He claimed all but certain victory in an interview with AFP yesterday.
If officially verified, the result would bar a run-off round of voting, handing Moise outright victory.
Celestin is second so far with 19.52 per cent of the vote, according to the preliminary results. They gave Jean-Charles 11.04 per cent and Narcisse 8.99 per cent in the November 20 balloting.

All candidates had the right to file disputes by 10 am (1500 GMT) today. After the country's electoral courts analyse the vote count and issue their verdict, the official results will be published no sooner than December 29.

Celestin's opposition LAPEH Party had already written the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) challenging the vote even before preliminary results were announced.
It accused the council of ignoring the requirement that voters sign their ballots or mark them with fingerprints, Celestin adviser Gerard Germain told AFP.
"Unfortunately the CEP chose not to consider that aspect," he said. "We thought we were going to have a break with the way we usually organize elections in Haiti. Now we will have to go to court to assert our rights."

Jean-Charles's left-wing party, Platform Pitit Dessalines, went further, accusing the CEP of corruption today.
"According to many witnesses, there were vehicles at roadblocks at the hotel where the Provisional Electoral Council was on Monday night, with a lot of dollars for bargaining with the CEP's members," Evelt Fanfan, a lawyer for the party, said. "For proof, three CEP members refused to sign (the results) because they did not agree with the practice."
CEP president Leopold Berlanger on Monday declined to comment about the decision by the three -- of the council's nine members -- not to sign the tally.
However, after hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police on Wednesday, the council issued a statement reminding Haitians that the results are only preliminary and urging "parties, political groups and candidates to refrain from declaring themselves elected."

The vote, which took place without major incident, is seen as an essential step to allow the country to return to the constitutional order after the cancellation of the first round of the presidential election held in October 2015.
Haiti's vote was originally held in October 2015, but the results -- which also put Moise on top with 33 per cent -- were scrapped after violence broke out and an independent commission found massive fraud.
Only 21 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the first-round voting last month.