| Yeah, elections, that's just what Haiti needs, they'll get everything straightened out right after they have elections. |
The voting for mayors and local representatives showed a weak turnout amid a handful of disruptive incidents, mainly scuffles between Haitians and local authorities, according to reports and AFP reporters, but officials were pleased.
“The voting went well generally,” said Jacques Bernard, director of the election council.
"Except for the dead guys; things didn't go well for them."
Among the four people killed by gunshots around the country was an off-duty police officer in the capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation.
One person was killed when a polling station in northern Limonade came under fire by unknown assailants. The men first set fire to the polling place with a Molotov cocktail. One of them was wounded by a joint response of Haitian police and UN forces. Election council president Max Mathurin blamed the incidents on ”partisan zealots looking to sway the vote”.
Some 29,000 candidates were vying for 1,420 positions in the vote, according to Bernard. More than 6,500 UN soldiers, 1,900 international police and 4,500 Haitian police officers provided security for some 3.5 million Haitians eligible to vote.
The first results of the elections are not expected before December 9 and the final results not until the second week in January, Bernard told AFP. The elections will complete a series of polls that began last February.