Slow start as Haiti votes for new president

Haitians began voting on Sunday for a new president –with a choice of 54 candidates –as the poorest country in the Americas seeks to shed chronic political instability and get back on its feet.

The first-round presidential polls in the Caribbean nation, which is also holding second-round legislative elections and voting for local officials, are unfolding in a climate of uncertainty.

Two people were killed in sporadic violence during first-round legislative polls in August, and some had feared the threat of renewed violence could keep turnout low on on Sunday. Police will deploy 10,000 officers, backed by 5,000 from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSTAH.

But despite that, voters patiently queued to cast their ballots in the capital and some expressed hope that the polls – the only one of several recent elections in Haiti to take place on schedule –could bring change.