A day before Haitians are to vote in presidential elections, reports have surfaced that one of the leading candidates was the target of an assassination attempt at a campaign rally Friday night.
Michel Martelly was leaving the rally in the seaside town of Les Cayes when shots were fired. One person was killed and several others were wounded.
Media reports say Martelly's spokesperson has called it an assassination attempt against the popular singer-turned-politician, also known as "Sweet Mickey."
CTV's Lisa LaFlamme, reporting from Port-au-Prince, said shots were fired from a pick-up truck.
"We've seen this three times over the week that various candidates have been the target of these attempts," LaFlamme told CTV News Channel on Saturday in an interview from Port-au-Prince.
The shooting comes after Mirlande Manigat, another presidential candidate, two days earlier had to call off a rally after shots were fired in the crowd.
Violence at the polls is not new in Haiti, said LaFlamme, adding that there is an intense anger among the people based on the conditions in which they have been living since last January's earthquake.
"This country is still a long way from being rebuilt, the cholera epidemic, all of these things are lying into great fears," said LaFlamme.
Some Haitians suggested the vote be postponed as a cholera epidemic grips the nation. So far, the disease has killed at least 1,300 people and sickened thousands of others.
Despite the fact that there are dozens of new cases every day, UN officials recommended going ahead with the election.
Haitian radio and television personality, Carel Pedre, told News Channel in an interview that the situation in Haiti is "really bad."
"Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow," Pedre said.
LaFlamme says that many people still don't have a voter registration card less than a day before Sunday's vote, and apathy is wide-spread.
"People (are) feeling ‘what's the point?' They have seen election after election after election in this country end in corruption and fraud," said LaFlamme.
The leading candidates have all vowed to fight corruption in the country, the western hemisphere's poorest nation. Martelly told supporters Friday to expect "massive fraud," but vowed to defend the election's results.
The winner will be charged with overseeing billions of dollars in aid yet to flow into the country 11 months after the devastating quake.
The UN currently has 12,000 security officers on the ground to protect against violence at polling stations, and there are another 6,000 election observers who will fan out across the country.
The three presidential front-runners are:
- Jude Celestin, a 48-year-old engineer running under President Rene Preval's INITE (UNITY) coalition platform
- Mirlande Manigat, 70, a university professor and former first lady who could be the country's first female president.
- Michel Martelly, 49, a musician who is a star of Haiti's Kompa dance music that fuses African and Latin influences. Some critics describe him as the "second Wyclef Jean"
With files from The Associated Press
