There is an electoral crisis in Haiti. An election in October to choose a successor to President Michel Martelly was so marred by reports of ballot tampering, illegal voting and other abuses that the result has been widely denounced as illegitimate.

Not just by the dozens of losing candidates — there were 54 people on the presidential ballot — but by independent election observers, human-rights groups, Haitian religious leaders, organizations of the Haitian diaspora and ordinary citizens who have taken to the streets in angry, sometimes violent, demonstrations.

The country is supposed to hold a runoff election on Dec. 27 between the first-place finisher, Jovenel Moïse, and the first runner-up, Jude Célestin. But Mr. Célestin has called the October results a “ridiculous farce” and threatened to withdraw from the runoff. He has formed a coalition of eight presidential candidates who are demanding an independent investigation of the first election and reforms to assure the integrity of the second.