The United Nations on Thursday said it was prepared to provide security for voters in presidential elections scheduled for next month, noting that violence has ebbed across much of Haiti.

The UN's 7,600-strong peacekeeping force has identified the risk level for each of the more than 800 voting centers so they can provide appropriate staffing for the Dec. 27 elections, said UN spokesman Damian Onses-Cardona.

The UN has also trained 3,600 civilians to act as security personnel at the polls, he said.

Haiti has struggled to organize the election because of a lack of equipment and trained poll workers, crumbling infrastructure, and violence that has made it difficult to register voters. The elections were postponed twice before the latest date was set.

Voters will choose from about 35 candidates for president and hundreds of candidates for 129 legislative seats.

The UN and other international donors are financing more than 95 percent of the US$60 million electoral budget. The UN troops came to Haiti in June 2004, four months after a violent rebellion led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Human rights groups say at least 1,500 people have died in violence in the capital in the past year, much of it blamed on street gangs that allegedly support Aristide, now in exile in South Africa. Though security has improved throughout much of Haiti recently, violence persists in the slums of the capital.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies November 25, 2005)