Haiti ? Clear-plastic ballot boxes were nearly as empty as Port-au-Prince’s unusually deserted streets Sunday as few voters turned out for Senate elections in which candidates from a major populist party were not allowed to run.

The vote had been seen as a key step in the development of Haitian democracy and in President Rene Preval’s bid to retool the constitution and fight poverty. The international community gave Haiti’s government $12.5 million to coordinate the elections, including $3 million from the U.S.

But the vote, delayed since 2007 by political turmoil, hunger riots and storms, drew an extremely low turnout and occasional violence. Haiti’s provisional electoral council told reporters it had not calculated turnout or any results as of early evening.

Supporters of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose Fanmi Lavalas party was disqualified from the election by Haiti’s provisional electoral council, had urged an estimated 4 million registered voters not to participate.