ARTICLE - ROSNY DESROCHES - PERM. EC

ROSNY DESROCHES WELCOMES THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PERMANENT ELECTORAL COUNCIL
(Haiti Libre) -

Although the Professor Rosny Desroches, Executive Director of the Civil Society Initiative, welcomes the announcement for the creation of a Permanent Electoral Council and the publication of constitutional amendments, a report submitted to the presidency on Friday by an independent panel chaired by Gérard Gourgue is totally opposed to this publication.

Rosny Desroches declared "...at the level of the Civil Society Initiative, since August, we have never ceased to demand the establishment of a Permanent Electoral Council on the model,... the formula recommended by the constitutional amendment. I heard that Mr. Lamothe had assured the diplomats that he met with recently, that the President will publish the constitutional amendments. We welcome that, and we think that this is a good thing. We think it will ease the tension a bit, and if he makes a Permanent Electoral Council quickly, it will help to further institutionalize the Electoral Council, instead of the passing of provisional to provisional indefinitely. Moreover, this can reassure everyone that we will not have a gap in the Senate in the coming months. In any case if there is one, it will not last too long, because that represents a very great concern for all conscious citizens in the country..."

However, the report of an independent working group, composed of ten high-level jurists, on the amendment of the Constitution, presided by Gérard Gourgue, would criticize the seriousness of the work of the ISC, and parliamentarians responsible for the reconstitution [correction] of the text of the Constitution... the conclusions of jurists would be negative and unfavorable to the publication of constitutional amendments. A member of this group is saying that what they found is overwhelming, and that the text submitted for publication, is far from what has been voted...

Although, this is not a Presidential Commission, and the recommendations of this report are not indicative of government decisions, the credibility of this group and of Mr. Gérard Gourgue, can be swept away with a wave of the hand; ... a report which might embarrass the Government, which attempts an opening with the Parliament for the ratification of the next Prime Minister-designate, Laurent Lamothe.

Friday, the Adviser of President Martelly, Me Gregory Mayard-Paul, was not able to confirm the reception of this report, given the particularly heavy agenda of the day...