Haiti: October 26, 2014 elections, all but cancelled-Added COMMENTARY By Haitian-Truth

Electoral Council President Max Mathurin in his office [file]

Sentinel.HT May 23, 2014
Brooklyn, New York, USA

Without an electoral council or supporting law, in May, Haitian President Michel Martelly (pictured) issued an executive order setting conditions and date for elections on October 26, 2014. Martelly is widely accused of creating conditions not conducive to holding free and fair elections since coming into office in 2011. [file/MartellyHaiti.com]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) – Elections, now approaching four years overdue, are no closer to being held in 2014, as was the case in ’13, ’12, and ’11.

Despite an executive order, having no force of law, that was issued by President Michel Martelly to set the date for the games on October 26, 2014, the President of the controversial “Provisional Electoral Council” all but precluded the possibility of holding the contests by that date.

Furthermore, on Wednesday, another electoral councilor spoke in the same sense but with more clarity, saying it would be impossible to hold elections in 2014 all together, needing 6 months to organize the process.

Max Mathurin, who replaced the defense lawyer for former Dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, Fritzo Canton, as president of this electoral council, stated that “the date of October 26, selected to organize the next legislative, municipal, local and regional authority elections, is not definitive.”

“We are trying to evaluate the system at the moment. After, the electoral councilors will determine the method for organizing the electoral process,” said Max Mathurin, who served as president of the provisional electoral council of 2006.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Mathurin added that an electoral law is essential for the planning of elections. “We need an electoral law before building an electoral calendar.” In earlier declarations, Mathurin had said his council would review the electoral law for submission to Parliament.

That part of the process is mired in irregularity, caused by the submission of the Martelly administration of a draft law, outside Constitutional prescriptions requiring the electoral council to do so.

In either case, Max Mathurin said a new electoral calendar would be established to facilitate the electoral process. Actions taken by Fritzo Canton, when he was head of a 7-member electoral council, have been widely rejected, especially by the nation’s largest political parties who had not met the deadline for registration.

Council member, Leopold Belanger, regarded as one with more integrity that most, was quite clear. Belanger said 6-months would be needed to organize free and fair elections and having them take place in 2014 was out of the question.

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Opposition elements are trying to blame the Martelly/Lamothe for the election problems when, in fact, it is a team of 6 Senators that are effectively blocking the entire process. 6 men are blocking an election for 10,000,000 people.

They should be shot.

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