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Haiti's national elections, set for Jan. 8 and plagued by delays and disorganization, will be postponed for a fourth time, electoral officials said Friday.

Three Organization of American States election workers were kidnapped Thursday, police said, illustrating the lack of security surrounding the vote.

The presidential and legislative elections — the first since a rebellion ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide nearly two years ago — were to have been held in November, and have since been postponed three times.

Delays in distributing 3.5 million voter ID cards, disorganized voting centers and problems with the voter database were the main reasons for the latest postponement, Rosemond Pradel, secretary general of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, told The Associated Press.

There has been no official announcement about the postponement.

"In public, the date is still Jan. 8, but in private, everybody knows that this won't be the case, and that we probably won't even be able to announce a new date for the elections by then," Pradel said in a telephone interview.

Max Mathurin, chairman of the Provisional Electoral Council, said the council would meet with political leaders later Friday to explain the situation and consider a new date.

"My goal is to clarify the calendar," Mathurin told AP. He said he would hold elections "as soon as is realistically possible," but could not predict when that will be.

The United Nations and the Organization of American States — which are providing most of the logistics for the vote — declined to comment ahead of an official announcement by the electoral council.

There are 35 candidates for president and hundreds for 129 legislative seats in the elections, which are being funded by the international community. The winners will replace an interim government installed after Aristide's ouster in February 2004.

The three kidnapped OAS representatives — a Peruvian, a Guatemalan and a Haitian — were abducted as they drove near the volatile slum of Cite Soleil, said police Chief Mario Andresol. He said he did not know their names.

"I am convinced this is politically motivated," Andresol said in a telephone interview, without elaborating.

Thirty kidnappings were reported in Haiti in November, and 30 during the first week of December alone, according to police. The actual number is probably much higher because many families prefer to negotiate with kidnappers rather than notify police.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies December 31, 2005)