PORT-AU-PRINCE: President Michel Martelly confirmed Thursday that Haiti's presidential run-off vote will be held on schedule despite violent protests and the opposition's refusal to take part.
"We are ready for elections this Sunday," Martelly said on the radio. "On the part of the state, it is our responsibility to organize the elections."
The opposition has accused Martelly, who cannot run for a second consecutive term, of instigating an "electoral coup" in favor of government candidate Jovenel Moise.
Moise beat opposition candidate Jude Celestin in the October 25 first round of voting by 32.76 percent to 25.29.
Celestin, who has not campaigned since, told AFP on Monday he would not take part in Sunday's voting.
"It's a no, I will not go to this farce. That will not be an election. It will be a selection because there is only one candidate," he said.
Several thousand people opposed to the Sunday elections took to the streets Monday and Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, erecting barricades in downtown streets and clashing with police.
In his comments Thursday, Martelly denounced the protests as "a vast plot to try to destabilize us."
"They are trying to waste time to create a confused situation February 7" when the constitution requires Martelly hand over power, the president said.
Martelly closed the door to possible negotiations, contending that his opponents "want to take power their own way because they can't win it through elections."
Wracked by poverty and the effects of a devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti has struggled in the 30 years since the end of the Duvalier dictatorship to organize elections that have broad popular support.
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