All clear for run-off election

Port-Au-Prince (CMC):

Electoral officials here yesterday dropped the government-backed candid-ate Jude Celestin from the March 20 presidential run-off clearing the way for match between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and Michel 'Sweet Micky' Martelly.

The announcement by the electoral commission followed more than 13 hours of deliberations. Cheers erupted outside the commission's office and through-out the surrounding streets of Petionville, a suburb in the hills of the capital, as the announcement was made.

First round marred

The first round of voting, on November 28 last year, saw wide-spread disorganisation, violence, intimidation, fraud and a call on election day from nearly every candidate - including Martelly and Manigat - to cancel the vote while it was going on.

Manigat is a socially conservative constitutional law professor whose husband briefly served as president under a military junta following the 1986 ouster of ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.