Weekly Report - 21 October 2010 (WR-10-42)

HAITI | Electoral concerns. At least 12 people died after heavy rains flooded Port-au-Prince over the weekend. This follows 23 rain-related deaths last month in southern Haiti and has fuelled concerns regarding the viability of holding general elections on 28 November. The possibility of “tropical storms ahead of the election" was recently cited as one of two main concerns by Albert Ramdin, the assistant secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS). His other concern - problems with the registration process due to “limited technical resources" - has also been borne out. With the deadline to register now passed, another OAS official, Ricardo Seitenfus, announced on 13 October that some 4.7m Haitians have been registered to vote (just over half of the total population). Of these, however, more than 6% died in the earthquake.