By Mon­ica Lawrence

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednes­day wel­comed the pres­i­den­tial decrees that man­date the Pro­vi­sional Elec­toral Coun­cil to orga­nize the upcom­ing pres­i­den­tial and leg­isla­tive elec­tions on Novem­ber 28 in Haiti.

The Secretary-General urged the gov­ern­ment of Haiti, the Pro­vi­sional Elec­toral Coun­cil, and the gen­eral pop­u­la­tion to ensure trans­par­ent and cred­i­ble elec­tions. He added that the upcom­ing elec­tions should serve to strengthen Haiti’s demo­c­ra­tic insti­tu­tions as the coun­try strug­gles to recover from the worst human­i­tar­ian cri­sis in its history.

Ban encour­aged all mem­ber states, par­tic­u­larly those involved in the Task Force on Elec­tions, to ensure that the finan­cial resources required for the elec­tions are made avail­able as soon as possible.

Ban also reit­er­ated the UN’s com­mit­ment to pro­vide sup­port to Hait­ian author­i­ties in the prepa­ra­tion and con­duct of the elections.

On Jan­u­ary 12, a major 7.0-magnitude earth­quake struck close to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s cap­i­tal, killing more than 230,000 peo­ple. The earth­quake was one of the dead­liest on record.

http://wireupdate.com/wires/7110/uns-ban-welcomes-the-organization-of-presidential-elections-in-quake-hit-haiti/