PORT AU PRINCE – Electoral officials in Haiti have delayed the publication of the final, certified results of last month’s disputed presidential election
Late Wednesday the authorities announced that they will release the results on January 3.
A preliminary tally gave a big victory to Jovenel Moise, the candidate backed by Haiti’s previous president. He topped his closest challenger by more than 385 000 votes in the election.
Only 21 per cent of Haiti’s voters participated in the election, which was called after an October 2015 election was annulled when a special commission reported finding what appeared to be significant fraud and misconduct. Moise also finished first in that vote count.
Officials said the results of legislative races will be published starting on Thursday.
Last week, the Electoral Court ordered a review of the preliminary results of the elections, handing a lifeline to three political parties that have been challenging the victory of businessman Jovenelle Moise.
President of the Chamber of Deputies, Cholzer Chancy, then called on the CEP to publish the final results of the presidential election on 29 December as scheduled on the electoral calendar.
Deputy of Delmas Gary Bodeau, who is also the Quaestor of the Office of the Lower House, said the strategy of dragging the electoral process beyond the 7th of February to prevent the installation of the President-elect is undemocratic.
The Electoral Court in its ruling ordered that 12 per cent of randomly drawn presidential minutes be verified and that the verification exercise be carried out in the presence of the parties concerned and the national and international electoral observation organizations. The court had set no deadline for completing the process.
Haiti has been without an elected head of state ever since Michel Martelly left office in February. The country is being run by Interim President Jocelerme Privert, who has called on all parties to accept the results of the poll. (CMC)
