Wait for Haiti Senate election results

Supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (pictured above), whose still-popular Fanmi Lavalas party was prohibited from running by electoral officials because official papers did not have his signature, had encouraged citizens to stay away fro

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, April 22, 2009 – It may be at least another week before Haitians know the results of elections held on Sunday, after a year and a half delay, to fill 11 vacant Senate seats.

The long wait is anticipated despite the apparently low voter turnout in the violence-married elections.

The votes are being tabulated at one facility - a warehouse computer centre in an industrial park in the capital – and it will take at least eight days to count ballots trucked in from the countryside and determine winners, consultants in the process have said.

In a statement, the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSTAH, said it hoped that the political parties and the general population at large would “await calmly the publication of results” that any dispute “will be pursued through legal channels”.

Supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose still-popular Fanmi Lavalas party was prohibited from running by electoral officials because official papers did not have his signature, had encouraged citizens to stay away from the polls.

During the polls, voting for a 12th seat from the rural Central Department was ended after demonstrators ransacked polling places.

Another date will be set for an election for that seat to be filled.