Haiti Libre:

On Tuesday, a delegation of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), led by the Council President Max Mathurin (Representative of the Legislative Branch), together with electoral advisers Léopold Berlanger (Representative of the Superior Council of the Judiciary – CSPJ), Néhémie Joseph (Representative of the Legislative Branch) and technicians of the electoral institution, went to the Senate to be heard for nearly two hours by a special committee, chaired by Senator Jocelerme Privert attended by Senators Francisco De la Cruz, Mélius Hypolite, Steven Benoit, Lucas Sainvil and Jean William Jeanty of G6(sole opposition senator present), on the need among other things, to amend the electoral law 2013.

Senator Jocelerme Privert told members of the delegation “There are about 29 amendments proposed by the Senate in the draft amendment of the electoral law already voted by the deputies on April 1, 2014 […]” delivering to the delegation a document with 29 proposals of amendment that the Commission should consider in the development of a new draft electoral law.

Max Mathurin called on all actors involved in the crisis to play their part remembering that time is short and refused to rule on the respect of the date of October 26, scheduled for the first round of elections, insisting that the Electoral Council still lacked the necessary tools to decide on this matter and that the ratification of the amendments to the Electoral Law was within the discretion and responsibility of senators.

Senator Jean William Jeanty doubts the possibility to meet the deadline of October 26 explaining that the many amendments to the electoral law, which must be voted in the same terms, will cause many shuttles between the two chambers.

The Senator of the opposition, Jean Baptiste Bien-Aimé Spokesperson of G6 denounces this Commission that has not been formed in accordance with the internal rules of the Senate, stating that “Any special committee is to be formed during a Assembly, and that was not the case for this Commission. “Recalling that the members of the G6 make as a prerequisite, the formation of a CEP in accordance with Article 289 of the Constitution, before submitting to turn their proposals of amendments…

The Senator Privert recalled that the Act of 27 November 2013 was intended only to elections for one third of the Senate and the whole lower house and local authorities, while today, elections must be held for two thirds of the Senate “which means that the law must be absolutely changed,” forgetting that the term of this amendment has already been approved by all parties in the agreement El Rancho, in its article 10 which states that “The Parties to the present instrument (Executive, Legislative, Political Parties) agree on the organization of a single election before the end of 2014 preferably Sunday, October 26 to hold the first round, for the renewal of two thirds the Senate, the House of Representatives and for the Local Authorities,” it is at most a transposition into law.

It must be remembered that the agreement El Rancho provided in its Article 12 an output solution, approved by all, in case of blocking of amendments to the electoral law http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-10763-haiti-politic-the-core-group-welcomes-the-inter-haitian-agreement.html and so far has not been applied, although many times in the previous months, the executive has referred to the existence and the possibility of its application… without however take action.

If nobody takes a firm political decision, to whistle the end of recess, it is unfortunately very likely that the pre-election crisis will worsen, with the real risk of causing a crisis in the country with the consequences that this implies, what no sane person wishes…