A woman suffering cholera symptoms is pushed

in a wheelbarrow to St. Catherine hospital in

Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitis cholera epidemic has

killed at least 1,000 people and hospitalized thousands.

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Haiti yesterday counted down towards weekend elections as the death toll from a spiralling cholera epidemic neared 1,350, fueling debate over delaying the key polls in the quake-hit nation.

Haitian radio reported that demonstrators in the southern town of Miragoane had erected barricades to protest against the presence of electoral registration supervisors they accuse of being fraudulent government lackeys.

Health officials said at least 1,344 people had died from the worsening cholera epidemic that has ravaged the country since mid-October a rise of 94 from a day earlier. More than 57,000 cases have now been confirmed.

The past week has seen anti-UN riots spring up in several provinces. UN peacekeepers from Nepal are accused of bringing cholera into the country the epidemic erupted near their base in the central Artibonite River valley.

Amid fears the disease could spread more quickly in an election environment when people have to move and congregate, four of the 19 presidential candidates published a letter this weekend demanding the polls be put on hold.

"We are calling on the authorities to push back the date of the elections, to establish and publish a battle plan against the cholera epidemic that is threatening the life of all Haitians," wrote Josette Bijou, Gerard Blot, Garaudy Laguerre and Wilson Jeudy, all outsiders in the poll.

Jacques-Edouard Alexis, a leading candidate and former prime minister, insisted the crucial elections must go ahead as planned.

In spite of cholera, in spite of the fact that hundreds of thousands of people live in tent cities since the January earthquake that flattened Port-au-Prince and claimed 250,000 lives, the poll must go ahead, Alexis told a press conference.

His argument centred on the fact that President Rene Preval, who has been widely criticised for his response to the cholera epidemic, must leave office as scheduled on February 7.

"That's why it's necessary to hold the elections, and people should go out and vote," he said. Haitians must "not allow this election to end in contested results. We will not accept a candidate that is an understudy of Preval."

Another leading contender, businessman Charles Henri Baker, told AFP he also opposed a delay and relayed his frustration with how the authorities have handled the outbreak.

"Cholera will be here for 10 years," Baker said. "The sooner we change the government, the sooner we can take action against the epidemic."

Nearly 4.7 million Haitians are eligible to vote in Sunday's elections, which will see 11 senators and 99 deputies chosen.

The Conference of Haitian Bishops urged the electorate on Sunday not to participate in violence and to "choose leaders who will work for all the people."

Stone-throwing youths last Thursday raced through the rubble-strewn streets and fetid camps of the capital, as UN peacekeepers in armoured trucks fired tear gas on the crowds in running clashes that lasted several hours.

Sporadic gunfire echoed through the capital as demonstrators blocked roads with burning tires and dumpsters overflowing with rotting garbage.

Port-au-Prince had been seen as particularly at risk of widespread infection because of the crowded and unsanitary conditions endured by those living in the squalid, makeshift tent cities.

But less than 80 deaths have been recorded so far in the capital and the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has taken a lead role in treating the disease there, says the situation in the city is stabilising.