25946: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 9 (AP) -- Local elections scheduled for this fall
will be postponed until after legislative and presidential elections,
Haitian officials said Tuesday.
   The electoral council decided to postpone the Oct. 9 local elections
until late December so that the nation could better prepare for the
November legislative and presidential elections, said interim Chief of
Cabinet Michel Brunache.
   The presidential and legislative votes will moved up from Nov. 13 to
Nov. 6, Brunache added. A runoff presidential election is scheduled for
Dec. 11, he said.
   The changes will not affect the interim government's goal of handing
over power by Feb. 7, said Max Mathurin, the head of the Provisional
Electoral Council.
   The elections are the first since Haiti's first freely elected
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted following a violent rebellion
in February 2004.
   About 1.5 million people, or a quarter of the electorate, have
registered to vote so far, Mathurin said.