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Haiti: Legislative and municipal elections postponed
Haiti’s government announced it was postponing long-delayed legislative and municipal elections that had been due to be held Sunday. The move triggered protests by thousands of angry would-be voters.
The elections are already three years overdue. No new date has been announced, though President Michel Martelly’s office vowed to hold elections “as soon as possible.”
Haitians were supposed to go to the polls Sunday to elect 20 senators, 102 deputies and municipal officials.
An official statement explaining the decision cited Martelly’s “constant concern to guarantee political stability.”
Protesters were swift in demanding Martelly’s resignation for his “inability to organize elections in the country.”
Police prevented protesters from marching on the seat of the provisional electoral council charged with organizing the vote.
Martelly had decreed in June that there would be an election on October 26, but the country’s National Assembly did not pass an electoral law in time because of a political impasse. Legislators and the opposition resisted attempts to hold the elections, alleging that the rules had been rigged by by the Martelly administration.
The failure to hold the elections means that the mandates of the rest of the members of the already depleted assembly will expire, potentially leaving the executive branch and to govern by decree.
Mandates of a third of the senators in the legislature have already run out, thus it struggles to find a quorum to debate on national issues.
Source: AFP