27116: Craig (news) UN urges speedy Haiti elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

BBC: UN urges speedy Haiti elections

The UN Security Council has called on Haiti's interim government to hold 
elections by 7 February.

It made the announcement after holding an emergency session to debate the 
continuing postponement of elections.

When a fourth delay was confirmed last week, Haitian officials accused the UN 
and the Organization of American States (OAS) of failing to play their part in 
preparing the election.

Both the UN and the OAS deny that they have failed in their task.

The poll was due to have been held on Sunday. It would have been the first 
since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in February 2004.

The Security Council called on Haiti to "expeditiously announce new and 
definitive dates for the elections, the first round to be held within weeks, 
but no later than February 7, 2006".

Reading a statement, the current council president, Tanzania's UN envoy 
Augustine Mahiga, said the elections should take place in accordance "with 
international democratic standards, and other conditions conducive to the 
widest possible participation".

*Plagued by violence*

"The Security Council reiterates that the future holding of elections is a 
fundamental step towards the restoration of democracy and stability in Haiti," 
he went on.

The statement expressed concern "over the deterioration of security" in the 
Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, and called on Haitian police and the UN 
mission in Haiti to "intensify their co-operation to improve security and to 
restore and maintain the rule of law".

Haiti - one of the poorest countries in the world - has been plagued by 
political and criminal violence.

In announcing the election's fourth postponement, Haiti officials said many of 
the country's 3.5 million registered voters had not received their electoral 
identification cards.

But the head of the OAS mission in Haiti, Denneth Modeste, said the cards had 
been ready in September, but election officials had asked the OAS to hold off 
distribution because polling stations had not yet been chosen.

The Electoral Council's Secretary-General, Rosemond Pradel, said last week he 
was sick of watching foreigners sit around spending money without achieving 
results.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4583798.stm