Doctors and search dogs, troops and rescue teams are flying into devastated Haiti, finding bottlenecks everywhere, beginning at a main airport short on jet fuel and ramp space and without a control tower.

HUNDREDS of smashed ballot boxes and bags apparently used to carry vote count sheets were scattered across a rubbish dump yesterday, more than a week after Haiti’s disputed presidential elections.

Haitians voted in overwhelming numbers in an election aimed at restoring democracy in the impoverished nation, swamping officials who struggled to cope with the large turnout.

Haitians jammed polling stations today as UN peacekeepers fanned out to guard the country's first presidential election in nearly six years, a vote widely viewed as a key step toward steering the bloodied, impoverished nation away from collapse.

UN TROOPS beefed up patrols yesterday and poll workers mobilised trucks and even mules to carry ballots to remote regions as Haiti readied itself for an election that aims to restore a shaky democracy in this impoverished country.