Haiti to miss poll deadline - Electoral chief

The head of Haiti’s Electoral Council has told Reuters that the nation will miss the April 24th date for elections, despite opposition calls for a quick return to the ballot box.

“The Electoral Council has never fixed itself to April 24 for elections. In this case the Council does not have to make announcements regarding this date. Dates from this process needs to be elaborated. We think that the work we’re doing now will be extended to the end of May which will allow us to launch an electoral process,” said Leopold Berlanger, the head of the electoral council.

Currently, the election council is overseeing a second review of the results to evaluate claims of fraud and decide which candidates should take part.

The election was postponed in January after violent protests over allegations of fraud in the first round. An interim government has been running the country since the last president’s term ended in February.

The transitional government led by Jocelerme Privert has been criticised for not being able to to resolve its electoral crisis with a temporary leader being in power.

Secretary johnkerry spoke to political reporter Michael Putney expressing his concern over delayed #HaitiElections.https://t.co/sa2Z6RFveR

— Ralf S. Rho (ralfrho) April 15, 2016

“President Privert has 120 days to organise elections. Leopold Berlanger came in one month after the president. It is an obligation to double your efforts, today we are waiting for an electoral calendar. This is the justification for our marches in the capital and in the provinces. First, we demand the electoral calendar. Second, the results of local elections, that local elections be organised, that an electoral system be set up which needs to evaluate the organisation of presidential elections. The way that we elect presidents, senators, mayors will cause problems in the country. A transitional government cannot resolve these problems,” Fednel Monchery, coordinator for political group, Repons Peyizan told Reuters.

Privert was chosen last month to steer the nation to elections for a term of 120 days after Michel Martelly stepped down, leaving the country without a head of state.

Reuters