HAITI: Election Organisation Delayed

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ives Marie Chanel

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 19 1995 (IPS) - The Provisional Electoral Council, charged with organising parliamentary, municipal and local administrative elections, says that its task is being held up due to lack of funds and logistic resources.

Council President Anselme Remy says the elections could take place within 90 to 100 days after the new electoral bill was approved by parliament, but promised international aid to assist running the polls has not arrived.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Haitian government have assured the Electoral Council of their financial support. But nothing has been heard from Canada or France who, along with other countries, had promised to contribute to the organisation of the elections, Remy said.

One member of the Electoral Council, Jean Francis Merisier, has declaredthat the contribution of the Haitian government, amounting to some 600,000 dollars, is not sufficient.

The electoral bill is being currently debated in the Senate, but deputies in the lower House are at present devoting all their time to voting on the national budget, since their term expires Friday. From that time, President Jean Bertrand Aristide will govern by decree till a new Chamber of Deputies is elected.

The Electoral Council bill tabled in parliament Monday by Prime Minister Smarck Michel contains 158 articles. It gives the Supreme Court the power to decide on the legality of the Provisional Council, and its decisions are final.

The bill provides for universal direct suffrage. Military personnel can be candidates on condition they obtain a certificate of their availability from the army, or that they were retired from the army one year before publication of the electoral law.

In special provisions of the bill, the Electoral Council invites the recognised political parties to promote the candidacy of women in the coming elections.

Deposits for women candidates sponsored by a recognised political party will be half those of male candidates.

Because of the political situation prevailing during the three years of military dictatorship, the required residence fixed by the Haitian Constitution for expatriate Haitians wanting to stand as candidates has been reduced from 48 to a maximum of three months.