Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Haitians Vote in Critical Election VOA News 28 November 2010 A voter casts his ballot during the presidential and legislative elections in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 28 Nov 2010 Photo: AP A voter casts his ballot during the presidential and legislative elections in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 28 Nov 2010 Haitians are voting in an election seen as one of the country's most important in years. As many as 4.5 million voters are expected to cast ballots Sunday to elect a president for a country trying to recover from January's massive earthquake and now struggling with a cholera outbreak. Voters will choose a successor to President Rene Preval, who is not eligible to run for a third term. Three of the 18 candidates seeking to replace him have emerged as front-runners. Former first lady Mirlande Manigat would be Haiti's first woman president if elected. A popular entertainer, Michel Martelly, has drawn large crowds of supporters. And a member of the unpopular ruling party, Jude Celestin, is also a top candidate. Haitian-born entertainer Wyclef Jean was disqualified from running by Haitian election officials who said he did not meet a 5-year residency requirement. Jean was among 15 candidates disqualified from running in the election. Preliminary results of Sunday's voting are not expected until December 7, and the final official results will not be announced until December 20.  Haitians are also electing a 99-member lower house and 11 members of the 30-seat Senate. A runoff election would be held on January 16, if needed.  Thousands of international election observers are expected to be at the 11,000 polling stations in hopes of reversing a long-term trend of electoral fraud and voter intimidation. Many Haitians have expressed a lack of confidence in the election because the campaign has been marred by fears of a worsening cholera outbreak and deadly protests. Others lost their necessary voter identification cards in the earthquake. But the U.N. World Health Organization has said the election Sunday should not worsen the cholera situation, which has already killed more than 1,500 people. Haiti is still recovering from the January 12 earthquake, which killed some 250,000 people and left about 1 million others homeless.  Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP. .