Wednesday Nesmy Manigat, the Minister of Education and Pierre Louis Opont, the President of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), the presence of Jean Fritz Jean-Louis, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister for electoral matters and a member of cabinet of the Minister Manigat, Charles Levelt Joseph, signed a memorandum of understanding on making available of public schools and support staff for parliamentary elections on 9 August.

"The Ministry is honored to fulfill one of its public service missions, by supporting according to the wish of the government, the Electoral Council, to contribute to the success of the democratic vote [...] all public schools, targeted by the CEP, will be made available to the Council for free as voting Centre and/or Polling station," declared the Minister Manigat, who invited all departmental directors, inspectors, principals of these schools and their guardians... to give their full support, by facilitating logistical support to the success of the elections. He asked the heads of public schools to put the premises and furniture available two days before the vote.

"This is the first time that the CEP has, at no charge, all school facilities for the organization of an election day. The steps taken in the past have always been vain," indicated the President of the CEP. "This support from the Ministry, allowing the electoral machine to make a substantial saving on the budget heading generally allocated to leasing space to organize the voting centers [...]" adding "This is one of the first steps of the CEP toward the nationalization of the electoral system, since the printing of ballots and the salary of members of the polling Station, absorb a significant part of the electoral budget," before thanking the Minister Manigat for his dedication in this process, hoping that other institutions followed suit.

Jean Fritz Jean-Louis expressed his feeling of satisfaction and felt that this was a big step in the electoral process. According to him, this clearly shows that the electoral thing is primarily a national affair "The entire society, the country, everything the State has is being mobilized to achieve good elections in the country. This is an example to follow and I compliment the Minister Manigat for showing understanding."

HL/ HaitiLibre