PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) – Polling stations closed as scheduled on Sunday in the presidential, legislative and local elections that saw more than 70 people being arrested by security officials earlier in the day.

More than five million registered voters cast their ballots, choosing from the 54 presidential candidates.

Although voting got off to a slow start, head the Organization of American States (OAS) observer mission, Brazilian diplomat Celso Amorim, said problems that arose were not insurmountable.

“With so many political parties involved in the elections, 128, some confusion was expected,” he said.

“I spoke to several people and they said, ‘I am happy to vote’.”

By midday the police reported that 73 people were arrested across the country.

They also said of the 1,508 voting centres, only two were closed for security issues.

There were also 32 security related incidents, including shootings, arrests and the seizure of firearms, however voting was not disrupted.

The successor to President Michel Martelly in February, is expected to be one of two candidates: Jovenel Moïse, owner of a banana exporting business in the north of the country; and Jude Célestin, a Swiss-educated mechanical engineer who previously headed a government construction agency.

Moïse, 37, represents the ruling Parti Haitien Tet Kale and Célestin, 53, who heads the LAPEH Party.

A runoff for the presidential race between the top two candidates is scheduled for December 27.

Martelly, who won the election in 2011, dissolved Haiti’s parliament in January after scheduled legislative elections in 2011 and 2014 were cancelled and terms ran out on sitting members.

The first round of the legislative elections held on August 9 was marred by acts of violence, intimidation and the closure of some polling stations.

The politicians have blamed the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) for not being able to conduct a free and fair poll, but the CEP and other international observers defended the procedures with the CEP later banning several political parties that it claimed either participated or encouraged the violence.

Several presidential candidates have withdrawn from the race as Haitians vote to replace President Michel Martelly, who is banned by the Constitution from seeking a third consecutive term in power.

Martelly has been ruling the country by decree since January after elections to choose a new parliament failed to materialise.

Haiti, with a population of approximately 10 million, has struggled to build a stable democracy ever since the overthrow of the dictatorship of the Duvalier family, which led Haiti from 1957 to 1986, and ensuing military coups. The polls were monitored by teams from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the 15-member CARICOM grouping.