PORT-AU-PRINCE: After years of false starts and blown deadlines, Haitians are set to vote in the first legislative elections in more than three years on Sunday in a test of stability for the country, an impoverished Caribbean nation with a history of coups.

Haiti’s parliament dissolved on Jan. 12, coincidently the five-year anniversary of an earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people. Since then, the 119-member Chamber of Deputies has sat empty, and the Senate, with only 10 of its 30 members, has failed to field a quorum.

President Michel Martelly, who cannot run for re-election, has ruled by decree. More than 1,800 candidates from dozens of parties are running, and preliminary results are expected in six to 10 days. Runoffs are scheduled for Oct. 25, the same day as the first round of presidential voting.

“These elections will be a major test for October,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network.