Haiti Once Again Missed Deadline for Holding Elections

This is the third time that Haiti's presidential runoff has been delayed. It is now impossible to elect a new President who would take office on May 14, 2016, as per the stipulation of the February 5th accord, and it is equally impossible to find a new elected government who would take power from the caretaker government.

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The provisional President Jocelerme Privert has told the press that he would publish a new election calendar by the end of May. As per his statement, political stability is a precondition to ensure a credible election process. The opposition candidates and local electoral observation groups have insisted that no second round of election could happen unless proper investigations have been made on the two earlier phases of elections held on August 9, 2015 (for the legislative assembly) and October 25, 2015 (for the first round of presidential election), because as per their charges the holding and results of these two elections were marred by massive frauds. Two main presidential candidates Jovenel Moïse and Jude Célestin did not sign a document outlining the terms of reference of the Independent Commission of Electoral Evaluation and Verification. The country has been in a political turmoil since the first round presidential election was questioned by losing candidates.

Although, it was impossible to hold the election on April 24th, thousands of protesters took the streets on that day demanding a chance to cast their votes. When Privert was asked by the reporters about the likely date for the election, he told them "does the country have the financial means to organize two immediate elections?" In the last election, millions of dollars, estimated between estimated $70 million to $80 million went up in flames of which only 6 percent of the total funding came from Haiti as own contribution. Privert has suggested that the country should now choose its next President and at the same time, consider October 30, 2016, as the deadline for a senate election.

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