Tuesday, the presentation in press conference, by Pierre-Louis Opont, the President of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), of informations about an electoral timetable for two elections this year (Presidential and Legislative) and municipal and local in January 2016 has caused many negative reactions both at political parties and civil Society.

These stakeholders, mainly blame the CEP for proposing an electoral timetable, established without consultation with them, so that the Executive would have been consulted. Moreover, many wonder about the realism of such a proposal, which will plunge the country for 9 months, in an electoral atmosphere with all the tensions and risks involved. Several sees a strategy to undermine the opposition, others already foresee future "shenanigans".

For his part, Pierre-Louis Opont asserts that the CEP has a duty to provide information to the population and within this framework, it does not have to consult with political parties each time, that the CEP made a statement public.

Furthermore he said that the timetable is only a proposal to be approved by the political parties, as he had said on Tuesday "[...] From this weekend we will address us formally to all political parties to begin the round of consultations to allow us to validate an electoral calendar [...]" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13157-haiti-flash-the-cep-announces-two-elections-this-year.html

Faced with these reactions, Pierre Opont in a statement said, showed no electoral timetable, but only preliminary informations. Maybe he could have avoided the reactions of stakeholders, whose susceptibility is well established, speaking Tuesday of, draft electoral timetable instead of talking of electoral timetable...

Precisions of CEP :

"The Provisional Electoral Council inform the public in general, the press, political parties, groups and alliances of political parties, National Partners and International in particular, that at the press conference given by the Council Tuesday, February 11, 2015, no electoral timetable was presented.

This is a set of informations that has been shared with the press and the public, relating in particular to the first acts of the Council in the perspective of forthcoming elections. The sending of a draft Electoral Decree [242 items, 69 pages https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/avantprojetdecretelectoral-version-6-fevrier-2015.pdf ], for the purpose of consultation, has been communicated and only the outline of a proposal of electoral timetable, to be discussed with the political parties have been exposed. The Council had taken care to indicate that this schedule will be developed after consultation with stakeholders, especially political parties.

While calling for the serenity and good faith of all the actors involved in the electoral issue, the Council is committed to make every effort to hold inclusive, participatory and credible elections in the country.

Pierre-Louis, President"

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13157-haiti-flash-the-cep-announces-two-elections-this-year.html

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre