PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti _ Haitian election officials and international observers said they were pleased with how Haiti's long-awaited presidential rerun and legislative elections were conducted, even though turnout remained a concern.
"We see that it's a day that has unfolded in calm and in serenity, and that has unfolded well up to now," said Leopold Berlanger, the president of Haiti's nine-member Provisional Electoral Council.
Gerardo de Icaza, director of the Organization of American States' department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation Secretariat agreed. His 130 observers around the country had registered only "a few minor incidents," he said. The previous presidential vote on Oct. 25, 2015, was marred by allegations of widespread fraud that eventually triggered the rerun.
"We have not observed any incidents out of the ordinary," he said. "We're more optimistic than on Oct. 25. We hope things continue this way."
Haiti National Police reported 18 arrests around the country. Among the incidents was an attempt to burn down a voting center in Port Margot.
The day began slowly, with committed voters arriving at polling places as early as 5 a.m., an hour before the scheduled opening.
De Icaza said the majority of voting centers opened by 7 a.m. There was still one, however, in Vallieres in the Northeast region that still had not opened by 1 p.m. because elections officials could not get ballots into the town. Berlanger, the Haitian elections chief, said a river had overrun its bank and a helicopter could not land because there was too much flooding.
In addition to the deployment of nearly 13,000 Haitian National Police and United Nations police officers, drones were also used to keep watch over Election Day.
Gary Desrosiers of the Haiti National Police, confirmed that police arrested "several individuals on Saturday night with several national identification cards." The cards are also used for voting.
"To whom do these cards belong? What is their objective? One person can't have that many cards on them," Desrosiers said.
But overall, he said, Election Day had remained calm, though police arrested two employees of the Ministry of Justice who were armed with 9-mm guns. Police issued a ban on guns starting Saturday night.
There were a number of reports of people being unable to vote because their names weren't on voter lists. At a voting center in Kenscoff, supervisor Fabien Francois said the six police officers assigned there wouldn't be able to vote because the officers did not want to provide their names to supervisors to send to the Provisional Electoral Council.
"I don't know how widespread the problem is, but I'm going to criticize them for that because they should be voting," Francois said about the officers.
Francois said he only found two or three other cases where voters arrived but weren't registered at any of the 11 polling stations. According to radio reports from around Haiti, though, the problem appeared to be an emerging issue in the elections.
Presidential candidate Jovenel Moise voted early in Trou-du-Nord, in northern Haiti. After 15 days of almost nonstop rain in the north, he welcomed a dry morning and called on voters to head to the polls.
"When you don't vote, you can't complain," Moise said. "There is not a country on this earth where you can talk about development if it's not stable."
A few hours later, Moise's opposition rival, Jude Celestin, cast his ballot. Afterward, he was carried down the street on the shoulders of supporters chanting in Creole, "They are shocked, they are shocked."
"We're halfway though the day," Celestin said. "It's not done yet. We want people to go out and vote. It's time that, as Haitian people, we take our destiny in our own hands."
Celestin, whose refusal to participate in a runoff after the Oct. 25 vote led to a verification commission and, eventually, the decision to rerun the election, said he was concerned about reports of Haitians not finding their names on voters lists. He said he hoped the irregularities would be addressed before polls close at 4 p.m.
Gina Jean, a poll watcher in Cite Soleil, said the missing names "are a big problem."
Haiti chose to rerun last year's presidential elections after allegations of widespread fraud hampered runoffs and threw the country into a political.
President Michel Martelly was forced to leave office without an elected successor after his five-year term ended Feb. 7. An interim government has been in charge since then.
Foreign nations, led by the United States, criticized the rerun decision and said they would not help pay the $55 million cost. But after Hurricane Matthew hit in Haiti Oct. 4, the U.S. softened its stance and gave the country about $5 million to help prepare damaged voting bureaus for Sunday's elections.
