ARTICLE - ELECTIONS - ANOTHER CEP?

NEW ELECTIONS, SAME ELECTORAL COUNCIL
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - On Friday, President Michel Martelly paved the way for the return of the Provisional Electoral Council rather than the Constitutionally mandated Permanent Electoral Council to plan upcoming elections.

On Thursday by decree. the nine members selected by former President Rene Preval on October 16, 2009, that organized the 2010 elections that were wrought with fraud, were relieved of their duties.

The Constitution of Haiti requires a Permanent Electoral Council to be established with not the President selecting all nine members but three (3) members should be selected by each of the three (3) branches of government; the executive, legislative and judicial.

On Friday, President Michel Martelly left the door open for a Provisional Electoral Council...

A reporter asked the president if the new CEP would be a permanent or a provisional CEP, to which he responded:

"...this will depend. The Permanent CEP will depend on if the [Constitutional] amendments are published. If they are not published we will have to establish a Provisional CEP."

The Constitution of Haiti was amended on May 9th 2011 before Michel Martelly was inaugurated. Three (3) weeks into his term as president, Martelly, by decree, arbitrarily declared the Constitution of Haiti erroneous and has been observing the previous one.

Parliamentarians say they have sent the corrected text of the Constitution to the National Palace, signed by the President, Vice-President and Secretaries of the Legislature. Martelly denies having received the document.