John Bacon

USA TODAY

Crucial, controversial and long-delayed elections in Haiti are scheduled to take place Sunday despite the devastating storm now smashing through the tiny Caribbean nation.

"There is a contingency plan that ... takes into account any situation that may arise from the 6th (of October) to 12th," Interior Minister François Anick Joseph said Tuesday.

However, Léopold Berlanger, president of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, told electoral advisers deployed across the fledgling democracy to "suspend temporarily" election activities and concentrate on protecting themselves and Haiti's assets. He said the council will inform the public "in a timely manner of the evolution of the situation."

The presidential election is actually a redo after last year's vote prompted rioting across the nation of 10 million people, even though international observers determined the election was relatively fair. "They tossed out the results from a perfectly good election," said Jim Morrell, head of the Haiti Democracy Project in Washington, D.C.

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Privet, however, created a verification commission in May 2016 to review the results that found "significant fraud" and recommended new elections.

Favorites include Jude Celestin, Jovenel Mois, Maryse Narcisse and Jean Charles Moise — the same group that topped balloting a year ago. If a candidate doesn't get the required votes to win, a runoff would take place in January.

One-third of the Haitian Senate seats also are on the ballot.

Mari Carmen Aponte, acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said the U.S. is "encouraged" by Haiti's efforts to conduct fair elections.

"The United States continues to support these elections as the only way in which Haiti can return to constitutional rule and address the serious challenges it is facing," she said in an op-ed piece for the Miami Herald.

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