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PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haiti went to the polls Sunday in a presidential run-off to choose if a popular singer or a former first lady will lead the shattered country struggling to rebuild from a devastating 2010 earthquake.

The run-off, delayed for months by bickering over a contested and violence-plagued first round in November, had been threatened to be overshadowed by the return from exile of charismatic ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But Aristide has largely honored a commitment not to upset the delicate political situation and voting began peacefully in the Caribbean nation whose recent past has been scarred by dictatorship and violent upheaval.

As polls officially closed at 4:00 pm (2100 GMT) -- with preliminary results to be announced on March 31 and final ones on April 16 -- delays prompted the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to push back closing time by an hour to "give voters the time to exercise their right to vote."

CEP president Gaillot Dorsinvil meanwhile downplayed reports of irregularities at polling stations, insisting they would have "no impact on the electoral process as a whole."

Hours after voting stations opened at 6:00 am (1000 GMT), UN monitors said turnout looked likely to exceed pitiful numbers in the first round when only 23 percent of 4.7 million eligible Haitians cast ballots.

Martelly, voting at a school in the upscale neighborhood of Petitionville, told a crowd of several hundred cheering supporters: "Today is the day of change, change for Haiti. The day when Haiti will escape its misery."

The international community is watching closely as it has committed billions of dollars to help reconstruct Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of quake survivors are forced to eke out an existence in squalid camps.

For some in the camps, however, participation in the poll appears a pointless exercise overshadowed by life in the muddy ad-hoc tent cities.

"What for? Nobody helps us," said Francine, living in one of the capital's hundreds of camps.

Other camp residents complained of all-important identification cards needed for voting being lost in last January's disaster, and not yet replaced.

The election is a study in contrasts, pitting Mirlande Manigat, a 70-year-old academic and former first lady, against Michel Martelly, a 50-year-old singer and carnival performer known to his fans as "Sweet Micky."

 

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011 

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