Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can States

Mem­ber States and Per­ma­nent Observer coun­tries of the Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can States ( OAS) made indi­vid­ual com­mit­ments this week dur­ing a meet­ing of the OAS Group of Friends of Haiti to assist the Elec­toral Obser­va­tion Mis­sion (EOM) that will accom­pany the Caribbean nation’s elec­toral process cul­mi­nat­ing in Gen­eral Elec­tions sched­uled for November.

The United States and Spain made spe­cific offers of finan­cial assis­tance while other Mem­ber States and Per­ma­nent Observers pledged to sup­port the effort through con­tri­bu­tions in kind or finan­cial resources towards cov­er­ing its costs, which are an esti­mated $5.3 million.

The pur­pose of the EOM is to accom­pany the elec­toral process and help guar­an­tee trans­parency in the elec­tions by deploy­ing more than 175 observers through­out the coun­try to work with local obser­va­tion teams on the day of the vot­ing itself. Haitians expect to elect a pres­i­dent, 10 sen­a­tors and 89 mem­bers of Con­gress begin­ning with a first round of vot­ing sched­uled for Novem­ber 28.

The EOM is a joint effort by the OAS and the Caribbean Com­mu­nity (CARICOM), a first of its kind.

OAS Sec­re­tary Gen­eral José Miguel Insulza high­lighted the Organization’s con­tin­u­ing com­mit­ment of sup­port to Haiti after the Jan­u­ary 12 earth­quake. “We are mov­ing for­ward in a process of sol­i­dar­ity with Haiti,” he said. “In spite of the ter­ri­ble tragedy suf­fered in Jan­u­ary this year and of the clear sit­u­a­tion of emer­gency in the coun­try, Haitians have decided to hold elec­tions, as every democ­racy should even in dif­fi­cult times. And this is very impor­tant for us, and we think there­fore that we have to sup­port them at all costs.”

OAS Assis­tant Sec­re­tary Gen­eral Albert R. Ramdin, who also chairs the Group of Friends of Haiti, thanked the Organization’s Mem­ber States and Per­ma­nent Observer coun­tries for their sup­port, encour­aged oth­ers to act swiftly and recalled the Hait­ian people’s coura­geous com­mit­ment to democracy.

“This Mis­sion will be a long-term pres­ence on the ground and will pro­vide much-needed assis­tance to Haiti’s elec­toral process,” he said. “We saw dur­ing the last elec­tions in Haiti the com­mit­ment of the peo­ple to democ­racy. I was there myself, I saw the long lines and I saw Haitians eager to exer­cise their right to vote. We would like to see a con­tin­u­a­tion of that process. This year’s elec­tions are impor­tant not only in the con­text of cre­at­ing the best envi­ron­ment for social and eco­nomic recov­ery but to see a con­tin­u­a­tion of the demo­c­ra­tic process, a deep­en­ing and strength­en­ing of that process.”

Ambas­sador Ramdin also said the OAS will pro­vide the Hait­ian Office of National Iden­tity with 850,000 national ID cards to facil­i­tate the new reg­is­tra­tion process, begin­ning next week when a core EOM group is expected to be on the ground.

The OAS Group of Friends of Haiti will meet next dur­ing the third week of August.

http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish/international/OAS_Member_States_and_Permanent_Observers_Pledge_Assistance_to_Haiti_Electoral_Observation_Mission11848.shtml