PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Two days after Haiti’s President Rene Preval requested technical assistance from the Organization of American States (OAS) for the verification of the disputed election results, the Secretary General of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza has asked President Preval to delay the announcement of the final results, which were due on Monday 20th December, 2010.
The delay will allow the OAS to prepare a team of technical experts to head into Haiti to reinforce the Joint Electoral Observation Mission in an effort to verify the electoral documents and results provided to the Tabulation Center.
Preval has agreed to submit the OAS request to Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).
OAS Assistant Secretary General Ambassador Albert Ramdin travelled himself to Haiti this week, with the hope of finding a solution to the political impasse in the country. Ramdin held more than a dozen high level meetings with major stakeholders, including the top three (3) Presidential candidates, Mirlande Manigat, Jude Celestin and Michel Martelly. Assistant Secretary General Ramdin, also held intense discussions with Haitian President Rene Preval, officials of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), experts at the Tabulation Center, Civil Society groups, the Private Sector, the head of the Joint Electoral Observation Mission Colin Granderson, the Head of MINUSTAH, Edmond Mulet and several country Ambassadors resident in Haiti.
Upon his return to DC Ramdin described the situation to a core group of stakeholders, saying that an urgent solution is needed to prevent further instability in Haiti. Ramdin also announced that in spite of “extreme and opposing political views” the top 3 Presidential candidates have indicated a willingness to dialogue collectively on the general political situation, and listen to the proposals about the verification of the electoral process.
OAS technical experts are expected to travel to Haiti next week and join the experts of the JEOM which are already there. According to Assistant Secretary General Ramdin, “the mission can only be successful if it is allowed to have access to all information to make its own independent assessments.”
