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Haiti leader
paves way for new elections
Dec. 30, 2011
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian
President Michel Martelly fired members
of a nine-person electoral council to
make way for legislative and local
elections planned for next year, a
government official said Friday.
Presidential adviser Damian Merlo
said the leader removed the council
members through a decree that will allow
him to begin the process of naming new
members to the provisional electoral
council who will then pick a date for
the vote.
"This is the first step to ensure
free and fair elections," Merlo said by
telephone.
According to precedent, the new body
will likely be composed of allies.
The earlier provisional electoral
council, whose members were appointed by
former President Rene Preval, oversaw an
election that was marred with fraud and
irregularities and almost cost Martelly
the presidency.
The former pop star was initially
barred from a runoff election, a
decision that sparked nearly three days
of rioting that shut down the capital.
The Organization of American States
determined those results were flawed,
and the electoral council dropped a
government-backed candidate from the
runoff to make room for Martelly.
The upcoming elections will prove
critical to the Martelly administration
as it tries to jump start reconstruction
efforts following a massive earthquake
two years ago. Martelly's Farmers'
Response Party holds no seats in the
30-member Senate and only three in the
99-member Chamber of Deputies.
One third of the Senate will be up
for grabs in the planned elections along
with mayoral posts for cities
nationwide.
The decree came the same day that
Martelly's press office issued a
statement saying the "former" members
were "invited to submit" to election
officials "state assets" still in their
possession.
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