16391: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Haitian legislative elections are planned for end of the year

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Aug. 14, 2003

Haitian legislative elections are planned for end of the year
BY JANE REGAN AND MARIKA LYNCH
mlynch@herald.com

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- A Haitian official Wednesday said the country is preparing
to hold elections in November to avoid a political vacuum -- a bold move
that would brush aside the concerns of both the political opposition and
international community.

''We talked about Nov. 23 and Dec. 7 this year,'' Alix Lamarque, the head of
the country's electoral council announced late Wednesday. He spoke after
emerging from a meeting on security and election issues attended by Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune.

``Those are dates that we are projecting. I will be able to give you the
firm date soon.''

Elections are widely viewed as the solution to Haiti's three-year-old
political crisis, which began with a disputed legislative vote in May 2000.
Also, two-thirds of the legislators' terms are up in January, and if
elections aren't held, the Parliament won't be able to function legally.

But the political opposition has refused to participate in elections, saying
the country isn't safe enough for candidates to campaign freely and voters
to cast ballots. International observers, human rights groups and the
country's small opposition parties say that President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's government must reform the police and arrest key gang members
before a vote can take place.

The president agreed to those conditions in principle last summer but hasn't
lived up to his promise, Aristide critics say. Indeed, an attempt to reform
the police force this summer ran into trouble when one of the government's
candidates for chief fled the country for Florida, saying he feared for his
own life.

Wednesday's announcement was strongly criticized by opposition members and
civil society groups.

''We stand by the same position that we took early this year when we said
that a series of conditions must be met,'' Eliphaite St. Pierre, head of the
Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organization, said. ``The situation has
gotten worse. There are areas of the country where the police have no
control.''

Elections in Haiti are supposed to be called by a nine-member electoral
council that represents different sectors of society. But two groups -- both
represented by opposition parties -- won't name their representatives. Under
the plan announced by Lamarque, elections would go on without their
participation.

Technically though, the electoral council Lamarque heads was abolished by
Aristide in February.

''We consider this unacceptable to both the political parties and to civil
society,'' Micha Gaillard, spokesman for the umbrella opposition group
Democratic Convergence said.

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