17571: AP: Leader of Haiti Election Council Resigns (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Posted on Sat, Dec. 20, 2003

Leader of Haiti Election Council Resigns

MICHAEL NORTON
Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A vice president of the council
organizing Haiti's new legislative elections said Saturday
he would resign his post to protest the crackdown on
opponents of the government of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

Volvick Remy Joseph's resignation is the latest in a series
of high-profile departures from government posts amid
growing disenchantment with Aristide and his
administration's violent response to opposition protests.

"I've resigned because I don't approve of the means
utilized by the government to repress the legitimate
demonstrations of almost every sector of Haitian society,"
Joseph told The Associated Press.

Joseph was a former health minister in the regime of ousted
dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. His resignation follows that
of three Cabinet ministers and the director of a government
ministry over the past two weeks. In addition, two senators
left Aristide's Lavalas Family party.

In announcing his decision, Joseph did not call for
Aristide's resignation but said, "It's the duty of the
president to ensure stability. If he can't, he should step
down."

Joseph was one of two leaders of an electoral council
formed by Aristide to organize new elections for
parliament. Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the
Western Hemisphere, has been in turmoil since the Lavalas
Family party swept 2000 elections widely seen as flawed.

Since then, at least 22 people have been killed during
anti-government riots. Earlier this week, police raided a
pro-opposition radio station in the north, saying they were
looking for weapons, while dozens of anti-government
demonstrations have been broken up by Aristide supporters
and police.

Aristide, the Caribbean country's first freely elected
president, was ousted in a 1991 army coup and restored to
power in a 1994 U.S. invasion. He stepped down in 1996 due
to a term limit and was re-elected in 2000.

Aristide has refused opposition calls to step down, saying
he will serve out his term until 2006.

In the meantime, the terms of most members of the Senate
and the Chamber of Deputies are set to expire Jan. 12 and
Aristide would rule by decree if no solution is reached by
then.



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