General elections were held in Haiti on 22 September 1957.[1] Former Minister of Labour François Duvalier won the presidential election running under the National Unity Party banner,[2] defeating Louis Déjoie,[3] as well as independent moderate Clement Jumelle, who had dropped out on election day in a cloud of suspicions that the army was monitoring the election in favour of Duvalier. Former head of state Daniel Fignolé, considered a champion of poor blacks, was considered ineligible as he had been forcibly exiled months before the election, allegedly kidnapped.
Supporters of Duvalier also won the Chamber of Deputies elections.[4] Following the election, Déjoie went into exile in Cuba along with his supporters, fearing repression from Duvalier's supporters. Haiti was not to see a free or semi-free election again until after the fall of Duvalier's son Jean-Claude Duvalier in February 1986.
Voters cut the nail of the little finger of the left hand and dipped it in indelible ink to mark that the person voted.[5]
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