ARTICLE - CEP ADVISERS FIRED

ELECTORAL COUNCIL MEMBERS FIRED BY PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - The Communication Office of the President informed that by a decree dated Thursday, December 29, 2011, that the decree of October 16, 2009 appointing the members of the Provisional Electoral Council is hereby voided.

Therefore, the former members of the Provisional Electoral Council are invited to return to the Headquarters of the electoral institution, with all government assets still in their possession.

After weeks in hiding, the controversial president of the CEP, Gaillot Dorsinvil returned Monday to resume work at the CEP, chairing a meeting to plan the next elections. He and his colleagues Ribel Pierre and Leonel Raphael had been cleared by the Court and allowed to resume their activities.

President Michel Martelly, as well as political leaders and other candidates had publicly accused the CEP of embezzlement in connection with the organization of the last election.

Five electoral districts are not yet represented in the lower house because of serious irregularities and fraud that characterized the elections in those districts.

It is not clear if upcoming elections will be through the Permanent Electoral Council, as mandated by the Haitian Constitution, which requires its nine (9) members to be selected by each branch of government selecting three (3), or if it will be a return to the Provisional Electoral Council, with its members all selected by the president.