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Haiti: Parliamentary elections due to be held later this year
Haiti plans to hold overdue parliamentary elections before the end of the year.
The elections are needed to fill one-third of Haiti’s 30-member Senate and dozens of municipal posts. Elections were supposed to be held in late 2011, however, disagreements over an elections law halted the process.
The country’s president, Michel Martelly has been under mounting pressure to hold elections.
No schedule or budget has been announced for the elections. With the Senate barely operating with a quorum, and one-third of the lower house finishing their terms early next year, additional election delays could shut down an entire branch of Haiti’s government.
Mr. Martelly has frequently butted heads with the upper and lower houses, where he has few allies. According to an official in his administration, it is vital that the legislative elections be held as a depleted parliament would allow the president to govern by decree – a situation, the fledgling democracy would like to avoid as much as possible.
Source: Newswires