HAITI: An initial survey place Michel Martelly ahead in the polls

The candidate for the presidency under the banner of "Repon Peyizan, Joseph Michel Martelly, is in first place with 3204 positive responses, 60.3% of voting intentions before Mirlande H. Manigat who received only 39.7% (2106 positive responses), according to a poll released by the first communications firm DAGMAR one month of holding the

According to what explained Christine Jacques, CEO of the firm sub-contracted to carry out this survey, a sample of 7000 persons holding their national identification card, commonly called "electoral map", was withheld during the period from February 6 to 11.

"Voters were interviewed in Creole," said Ms. Jacques. She said there was a margin of error of less than 2%.

Pending the arrival of other polls on the second round, both competitors are continuing their campaign to end on March 18 across the country.

Last Friday, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) held a meeting and exchange of information with political parties and candidates for the International Club. On this occasion, the organization announced a series of corrective measures and provisions.

"There will be members of BED and BEC will be returned. We will proceed again in the draw for members of polling stations. We will return more than three hundred supervisors, more than three hundred members of ESA and other personnel related to electoral operations in areas where there was either quitting or not voting center recovery of minutes or irregularities or in the polling stations where we had to put the minutes in quarantine (...) illegibility or manipulation, "said Director General of the institution, Pierre-Louis Opont, announcing that the lists of offices voting and electoral lists will be available within the agreed timeframe.

The PRC said that technical changes will be made in the electoral machine. This is the establishment of call centers with 40 operators, the reactivation of the SMS system, strengthening the awareness campaign, increasing the font size on the electoral lists, the availability of a designated agent (who is a member of the Scouts of Haiti) to the orientation of the voters at the entrance to each polling center and strengthening the training of electoral staff (supervisors, trainers and members of polling).

"There is no way to have a second round is acceptable without the participation of political parties," said Gaillot Dorsinvil, president of the electoral body, which calls on all actors involved in the electoral process to play their part to that the second round is better than the first.

For their part, candidates John Henry and Yves Céant crystalline continue to require publication of the final results of the first round of elections on 28 November 2010 in the Official Monitor.