Port-au-Prince - The presidential runoff election in Haiti has been officially postponed until at least February, although no new date was set for it to take place.
Pierre-Louis Opont, president of the Caribbean country's electoral council, confirmed the postponement of a runoff that had originally been planned for January 16, Radio Metropole reported Wednesday.
The postponement had been expected for weeks, since official results of the November 28 election are yet to be announced. The top two candidates in that vote are set to face off in a runoff.
Observers expect the decisive election to take place in March. Outgoing Haitian President Rene Preval has already said several times that he is willing to stay in office till May, instead of leaving in February as established in the original election schedule.
Experts from the Organization of American States (OAS) are currently overseeing the vote count for the November election, amid complaints of fraud.
Preval is accused of having manipulated the election to favour his party's candidate, Jude Celestin. If unofficial results announced so far are eventually confirmed, Celestin would join conservative Mirlande Manigat in the runoff, leaving popular singer Michel Martelly out of the race for the presidency.
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