Haiti: Electoral process to be re-launched with the release of report on contested presidential election

Haiti’s interim President, Jocelerme Privert, says the electoral process will be re-launched this week with the publication of the electoral timetable by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

The country has been preparing for presidential and second round legislative elections ever since Michel Martelly left office in February and although Privert had been installed as interim leader to oversee a May 14 poll that has not materialized.

The 5-member Independent Commission of Evaluation and Verification of Election (CIEVE), led by a former diplomat, was scheduled to hand over its recommendations to the CEP on Sunday, which in turn would hand them over to Privert later on Monday at a ceremony on the grounds of the National Palace.

According to Privert, the report delivered by the CIEVE is essential to ensure the credibility of the electoral process. He insists that Haiti cannot restart balloting without first restoring confidence in the electoral machinery.

Political observers say this may lead to anxiety in the country as Haitians await the contents of the report.

Commission president Pierre Francois Benoit has said a random sample of 25 percent of the roughly 13,000 tally sheets from polling stations would be audited.

Regional monitors who observed last October 25 presidential first round said the results showing the government-backed candidate Jovenel Moïse in the lead for a 2-candidate runoff appeared to be have been a genuine reflection of the voters’ will. But the results were rejected by virtually all the other candidates, most notably, Jude Célestin, the other presidential candidate, who described the results as a “massive fraud”. -(CMC)