Haiti commission installed to review electoral process

Haiti's President Michel Martelly, center, speaks as he walks with his Cabinet Chief Ann Valerie Timothee Milfort after an interview at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. Martelly is constitutionally due to leave office on Feb. 7 because he can’t run for a consecutive term. He told the AP that his main remaining task is handing over the reins to a legitimate government. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
Haiti’s President Michel Martelly, center, speaks as he walks with his Cabinet Chief Ann Valerie Timothee Milfort after an interview at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. Martelly is constitutionally due to leave office on Feb. 7 because he can’t run for a consecutive term. He told the AP that his main remaining task is handing over the reins to a legitimate government. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A five-member commission has been installed to evaluate Haiti’s electoral process and recommend ways out of an impasse that has postponed presidential and legislative runoffs.

Two members who were initially named to the panel have withdrawn after the opposition objected to their participation.

The five final members of the panel were sworn in late Tuesday by Prime Minister Evans Paul. He says it’s an independent commission that is free to set the scope of its probe, though it has just a week to finish its work.

Paul says the main goal is to create political stability and ensure that power is transferred to a new leader on the constitutional deadline of Feb. 7.

Electoral officials said Wednesday they will name a new election date once the commission makes its recommendations.

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