Reuters: Haiti sets new election for February 7
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Haiti sets new election for February 7, Joseph Guyler Delva, Sun Jan 8, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haiti's electoral authorities set a new date for an oft-delayed presidential election on Sunday, saying that the first round of the chaos-bedeviled ballot will take place February 7, as the United Nations has demanded.
The announcement came a day after the commander of U.N. forces in the strife-torn country put a bullet through his brain. There was no immediate word on why he might have taken his life.
The election was supposed to take place on Sunday after having been repeatedly delayed since November. But the council canceled the vote a week ago without announcing a new date, earning the impoverished Caribbean country a rebuke from the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
"For us this schedule is official and final. We discussed it with the government, which has no objection," Rosemond Pradel, secretary general of the Provisional Electoral Council, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday.
It will be the first election since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was chased from office by an armed revolt and civic pressure in February 2004, accused of corruption and increasing despotism.
Attempts to hold the ballot have been plagued by incompetence, logistical problems and continuing violence despite the presence of 9,000 Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeepers and police.
A run-off vote, if none of the 34 candidates registered for the presidential election win an outright majority, will occur on March 19 and a vote for local government officials will take place on April 30, Pradel said.
The decision on an new election date came a day after Haiti and its attempts to return to democratic rule were rocked by the death of the U.N. military commander, Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar,
Bacellar was found dead in his hotel suite on Saturday, dressed in shorts and T-shirt, his pistol by his side.
A U.N. police investigator and a Haitian police officer said it was pretty clear that Bacellar had taken his own life. "According to the elements we've found, I'm 95 percent sure Gen. Bacellar committed suicide," said the U.N. expert, who spoke on condition he not be identified. "We found his gun, a 9mm pistol, by his side. The gun was loaded and when we compared the remaining bullets with the hole left in his head and the spent shell we found there is no doubt." An investigator with the Haitian National Police, also speaking on condition he not be named, said Bacellar had shot himself under the chin and the bullet went through his head. "The way it happened showed us clearly that it was a suicide," the police officer said, adding that the general's body was discovered by his security guards. Valdes declined at a news conference to confirm it was suicide. But he did reiterate a U.N. Security Council call, issued on Friday, for the interim government to ensure the first round of the election was held by February 7.
"The schedule officially published by the Haitian authorities will not be allowed to be changed," Valdes told reporters at a news conference. "It will be final and the U.N. mission is ready to accomplish every task in its competence to make sure the new schedule is met," the U.N. diplomat said.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haiti's electoral authorities set a new date for an oft-delayed presidential election on Sunday, saying that the first round of the chaos-bedeviled ballot will take place February 7, as the United Nations has demanded.
The announcement came a day after the commander of U.N. forces in the strife-torn country put a bullet through his brain. There was no immediate word on why he might have taken his life.
The election was supposed to take place on Sunday after having been repeatedly delayed since November. But the council canceled the vote a week ago without announcing a new date, earning the impoverished Caribbean country a rebuke from the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
"For us this schedule is official and final. We discussed it with the government, which has no objection," Rosemond Pradel, secretary general of the Provisional Electoral Council, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday.
It will be the first election since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was chased from office by an armed revolt and civic pressure in February 2004, accused of corruption and increasing despotism.
Attempts to hold the ballot have been plagued by incompetence, logistical problems and continuing violence despite the presence of 9,000 Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeepers and police.
A run-off vote, if none of the 34 candidates registered for the presidential election win an outright majority, will occur on March 19 and a vote for local government officials will take place on April 30, Pradel said.
The decision on an new election date came a day after Haiti and its attempts to return to democratic rule were rocked by the death of the U.N. military commander, Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar,
Bacellar was found dead in his hotel suite on Saturday, dressed in shorts and T-shirt, his pistol by his side.
A U.N. police investigator and a Haitian police officer said it was pretty clear that Bacellar had taken his own life. "According to the elements we've found, I'm 95 percent sure Gen. Bacellar committed suicide," said the U.N. expert, who spoke on condition he not be identified. "We found his gun, a 9mm pistol, by his side. The gun was loaded and when we compared the remaining bullets with the hole left in his head and the spent shell we found there is no doubt." An investigator with the Haitian National Police, also speaking on condition he not be named, said Bacellar had shot himself under the chin and the bullet went through his head. "The way it happened showed us clearly that it was a suicide," the police officer said, adding that the general's body was discovered by his security guards. Valdes declined at a news conference to confirm it was suicide. But he did reiterate a U.N. Security Council call, issued on Friday, for the interim government to ensure the first round of the election was held by February 7.
"The schedule officially published by the Haitian authorities will not be allowed to be changed," Valdes told reporters at a news conference. "It will be final and the U.N. mission is ready to accomplish every task in its competence to make sure the new schedule is met," the U.N. diplomat said.
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