#2905: From HOL: Conyers, Gilman and Rangel on the postponement of the elections (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
March 10,2000


His Excellency René Préval

President of the Republic of Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Dear Mr. President:

We are informed that the provisional electoral
council has announced a postponement to April 9th
and May 21st of Haiti's parliamentary and
local elections. The President of the United Nations
Security Council has urged your government to stick
"as closely as possible" to the original schedule for
elections. The electoral council should, of course,
detail the reasons for its decision to the Haitian public
and competing political parties.

Mr. President, the decisions you took in January 1999
precipitated this electoral crisis. It is your responsibility to
insure clean and peaceful elections are held on time. We
urge you to work cooperatively with the electoral council
you appointed to insure that separate parliamentary
and local elections are held without further undue delay.
Any decision to substantially delay the elections would
likely destroy the fragile consensus in your country in
support of these elections.

The Clinton Administration informs us that it will use all
diplomatic means to respond to those who seek to disrupt
or corrupt the electoral process. The Administration has
our full support to so act to protect vital American interest
in Haiti.


Sincerely, yours

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.

The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman

The Honorable Charles B. Rangel