Haiti’s electoral council on Monday (June 06) announced that it is scrapping the results of a disputed presidential vote and setting a new election date, a move that could see interim president Jocelerme Privert stay in office until next year.
The Caribbean nation held a first-round vote in October, but a second-round run-off was postponed several times after losing candidates alleged fraud. Privert was chosen as an interim leader when the last president left office without a successor.
The electoral council accepted a recommendation to scrap the first-round results after a commission found evidence of fraud and set new dates for a fresh first round to be held on Oct. 9, with a run-off vote on Jan. 8.
“The Electoral Council has decided to repeat the first round of presidential elections and continue with the same electoral process. That is to say that it will be the same process. The candidates that participated in the first round will have to confirm their participation in the presidential electoral competition. Secondly, the Electoral Council, following recommendations of the Electoral Verification Committee, will analyse the documents from the 42 elected parliamentarians from 2015,” announced the President of Electoral Tribunal, Leopold Berlanger.
Under a multi-party agreement, Privert was supposed to have overseen elections and handed power to an elected successor within 120 days, by June 14. Electoral deadlines were missed after a spat over appointments and the establishment of the commission to investigate the first round.
In its non-binding final report delivered last week, the commission recommended an entirely new election, citing widespread fraud and “zombie” voting.
Following suit, the country’s electoral officials confirmed dates for the presidential and parliamentarian elections.
“The electoral campaign will start on August 24, 2016. This campaign will last 45 days. The first round of presidential elections will start on October 9, 2016 alongside the first round for 1/3 of the Senate as well as legislative elections,” said Philippe Augustin, the Director of Electoral Registrations.
Haiti’s interim president, Jocelerme Privert, has said he will stay in office until next year to transfer power to an elected president unless parliament rules otherwise.
But Privert has strong support in the upper house, and legislators have failed to meet at all lately, making it unlikely they will vote to remove him.
Haitian activist Jeantel Joseph said the move to re-schedule the election should have been done with the backing of political parties.
He added that the new elections will be set to favour Privert’s political allies.
“The general public needs to stand up and demand Privert leave the National Palace because we see that his objective was to annul the elections, dismiss parliamentarians and organise elections which favour his political family. We know his ideology well,” declared Joseph.
Others disagree.
“I do not accept that the 2015 elections are to be repeated. I will never accept it. It’s necessary to organise the second presidential round with Jovenel Moise and Jude Celestin,” said activist, Paul Arthur Fleurival.
Earlier this week the United States warned that starting the elections from scratch could prolong the period Haiti remained without a democratically elected president.
The election has divided opinion in Haiti. Supporters of Privert and his allies feel that international pressure to hold a vote quickly led to the flawed first round. Others feel the vote should go ahead quickly, in a country suffering from food shortages and barely recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016