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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's repeatedly derailed presidential election finally got underway on Sunday as the nation tried to get its shaky democracy on a sturdier track after an initial vote held last year was annulled. Voter turnout appeared paltry in much of southwest Haiti, which was ravaged by Hurricane Matthew last month. But in the crowded capital of Port-au-Prince and other areas, balloting appeared to be going relatively smoothly even after a number of polling centers opened well after the 6 a.m. scheduled start. "I will wait as long as I need to," said Alain Joseph, a motorcycle taxi driver and father of four who wore a bright pink sweatshirt to show his loyalty to the Tet Kale party of ex-President Michel Martelly. Pink is the faction's color. Balloting was even calm and orderly in Cite Soleil, a volatile slum on the edge of Port-au-Prince where Election Day can quickly devolve into chaos if political activists pay young men to cause disruptions. "I have to admit, I'm a little surprised just how smoothly things are going. We haven't had a single issue," said Vanessa Similien, an electoral office worker who was monitoring voting in a Cite Soleil school next to a trash-clogged canal. The Caribbean nation's roughly 6 million registered voters don't lack for choice: 27 presidential candidates are on the ballot. The top two finishers will meet in a Jan. 29 runoff unless one candidate in the crowded field somehow manages to win more than 50 percent of the votes. No results are scheduled to be released for eight days, and electoral council director Uder Antoine has said it might take even longer. The balloting will also complete Parliament as voters pick a third of the Senate and the 25 remaining members of the Chamber of Deputies. Helene Olivier, 72, said she was inspired to vote for the first time in her life because she's had it with all the testosterone in Haitian politics. She believed that Fanmi Lavalas candidate Maryse Narcisse, one of two female presidential contenders, would improve the nation because of her gender. "Women protect women. They make good changes. The men, they boss you and beat you too hard," Olivier said after casting her ballot at a high school in Petionville, a hillside district above Port-au-Prince. Results of an October 2015 vote were annulled earlier this year after a special commission reported finding what appeared to be significant fraud and misconduct. Most Haitians have stayed away from the polls in recent elections, in part because they are repelled by the chronic ineffectiveness and broken promises of their elected officials. But some remain hopeful new leaders might be able to relieve Haiti's chronic poverty and political turbulence. "Nothing will stop me from voting. We all have to step up and help solve Haiti's problems," said Mickenson Berger, who has been cutting hair on a Port-au-Prince street corner since his barber shop was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. Haiti has had an anemic caretaker government for nearly a year, and a new elected president will face a slew of immediate and long-term challenges.  With the depreciation of the currency, the gourde, the cost of living has risen sharply. Haiti is deeply in debt and public coffers are largely depleted. The southwest is in shambles from last month's Hurricane Matthew and parts of the north have been battered by recent floods. Haiti is the poorest nation in the hemisphere and one of the most unequal in the world. "Public institutions remain weak, and life-crushing poverty remains the daily reality of most of its citizens. Environmental degradation has left the population and the country's productive infrastructure highly vulnerable to shocks," said Robert Maguire, a Haiti expert who is an international affairs professor at George Washington University. In Bel Air, a rough hillside neighborhood of shacks in downtown Port-au-Prince, men said their biggest hope from a new administration was simply regular garbage collection. "All I know is the next government needs to start picking up the trash around here again. Under the interim government, we've had no garbage collection here at all," said Nicolas Michel, a high school math teacher and a part-time welder. A revamped Provisional Electoral Council, known as the CEP, has gotten high marks for organizing Sunday's vote with some $25 million from the government. It replaced a council that was marred by internal discord and widespread allegations of fraud. "So far, this CEP has done a good job. Their credibility is very high," said Rosny Desroches of the Haitian group Citizen Observatory for Institutionalizing Democracy, which had 1,500 observers monitoring the national vote. Delegations from the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community were also watching the election. ___ David McFadden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dmcfadd

After lengthy drift, Haiti votes for new leader