Jamaica Observer

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — United Nations Sec­re­tary Gen­eral Ban Ki-moon has called for “trans­par­ent and cred­i­ble” pres­i­den­tial elec­tions in Haiti later this year.

“The upcom­ing Novem­ber elec­tions will also be fun­da­men­tal for ensur­ing Haiti’s demo­c­ra­tic future. It is essen­tial that they are trans­par­ent and cred­i­ble,” said Ban, the first UN Sec­re­tary Gen­eral to address the Caribbean Com­mu­nity (Cari­com) lead­ers at their annual summit.

He said that the UN is work­ing with its inter­na­tional part­ners to sup­port the elec­toral effort in the French-speaking nation and was grate­ful for Caricom’s sup­port in that regard.

He said that the recov­ery will take many years adding that “promises will not feed the peo­ple of Haiti…”

Pres­i­dent Rene Pré­val has announced Novem­ber 28 as the date for pres­i­den­tial and leg­isla­tive elec­tions and also issued a decree man­dat­ing the Cari­com country’s nine-member Pro­vi­sional Elec­toral Coun­cil to pre­pare for the pres­i­den­tial elections.

The upcom­ing gen­eral elec­tions are likely to cost US$44 mil­lion and last month, del­e­gates attend­ing a donor’s sum­mit in the Domini­can Repub­lic dis­cussed ways to finance the elections.

The Hait­ian pres­i­dent said that he was thank­ful to Cari­com for the sup­port shown to Haiti since the cat­a­strophic earthquake.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/CARICOM-SUMMIT–Transparent-elections-needed-for-Haiti