Haitians were supposed to have gone to the polls in November, but the election has been put back for a second time amid poor organisation. The latest postponement is a setback for the Caribbean’s poorest country, which finds itself caught in a cycle of political instability and economic doldrums.

Haiti has been governed by an under-resourced interim administration since the ejection of General Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power in February 2004, and its development indicators make for depressing reading.

With an estimated annual gross domestic product of $3.5 billion, two in every three of Haiti’s 8.3 million people live under the poverty line. Rates of illiteracy, child mortality and life expectancy are similar to those in the most impoverished parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

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