BBC Caribbean: Calls for inclusive elections

Forty-five members of Congress have urged US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to support free, fair and inclusive elections in Haiti next month.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters and her colleagues say they are concerned that the exclusion of over a dozen political parties in Haiti's 28 November presidential and legislative elections is "undemocratic and unconstitutional".

Those left out are said to include the Fanmi Lavalas party of exiled former president Jean Bertrand Aristide.

"The exclusion will undermine both Haitians' right to vote and the resulting government's ability to govern," the members of Congress said in a letter to Mrs Clinton.

They also raised concerns about Haitian voters having access to voting cards and polling stations, particularly those voters displaced by the 12 January earthquake.