U.S. presidential candidate Rubio urges Haiti to set clear election timeline

HAMPSTEAD, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Friday said that Haiti must lay out a clear timeline for a democratic presidential election, comments that came the day the Caribbean nation delayed a vote set for Sunday. "It's disappointing that they've decided to postpone it," said Rubio, the Florida senator vying for his party's nomination to the November 2016 presidential election. "They need to create a clear timeline for when it is these elections are going to happen," Rubio told Reuters during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. Haiti called off Sunday's presidential election after violent protests erupted on Friday and the opposition candidate vowed to boycott the vote over alleged fraud. Rubio has stressed his foreign policy credentials in seeking to differentiate himself from the rest of the crowded Republican field. But the first-term senator has faced an uphill battle. Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman who has tapped into voter frustration with the political establishment, leads polls ahead of presidential nominating contests. Haiti is "in our western hemisphere. We have an interest," Rubio said on Friday, noting migration from Haiti to the United States and the current community of Hatian-Americans. "They (Haitian elections) cannot be continuously, indefinitely postponed because it undermines democracy," he added. (Reporting by Luciana Lopez)