Haitians will choose between a former first lady and a popular musician Sunday in a pivotal presidential runoff vote for a nation still recovering from a devastating earthquake and political turmoil.
Former law professor and first lady Mirlande Manigat will face singer Michel Martelly in the second round of presidential elections.
Final results of the runoff will be released on April 16, according to officials.
Martelly made a name for himself as a flamboyant carnival musician who sometimes ripped his clothes off onstage.
In early December, the electoral council announced that Manigat had won but lacked the majority of votes needed for an outright victory. Initial results put her in a runoff with government-backed candidate, Jude Celestin.
Haitians responded by charging fraud and burning cars, tires and Celestin's campaign headquarters in Port-au-Prince.
The third-place candidate, Martelly, claimed he had won more votes than Celestin and a review of results by an Organization of American States team supported that contention.
The review suggested that Martelly earned a spot in the runoff.
Oh yes, and former President Aristide is floating around the country too, showing up just days before the runoff, swearing he's not going to get back into politics, either...but I'm sure he'll offer his services as an advisor to Sunday's winner, too.
Meanwhile Haiti continues to languish in squalor as thousands face a massive cholera epidemic that could end up infecting some 750,000 plus people this year...almost ten percent of the population of the country infected by a preventable disease. Nobody seems to care much, either...and if they do, they're certainly not doing very much about it.
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