Haiti has abandoned plans to hold a presidential runoff election following street clashes leaving the Carribean nation in political limbo. The US had encouraged the country to go forward with the vote. Pierre Louis Opont, president of Haiti’s Electoral Council, said the vote scheduled for Sunday was being postponed for security reasons and did not name a new date, DPA reported. Thousands of opposition supporters had taken to the streets on Friday to call for President Michel Martelly to resign with demonstrations escalating into riots in recent days. Fraud allegations had overshadowed the election campaign for weeks, with the opposition accusing authorities of manipulating the first round of elections held in October 2015 in favor of government candidate Jovenel Moise. Opposition candidate Jude Celestin this week vowed to boycott the election. President Martelly remained defiant, accusing the opposition of dirty tricks of their own. “They want to take power their way, because they can’t take it through the ballot,” Martelly said on Thursday. This is not the first time elections have been postponed with polls pushed back last month.
