Members of the New Provisional Electoral Council Chosen

AHP, 6 November 1996

Port-au-Prince, November 6 1996-(AHP)-The Haitian Executive published the official list of the new nine-member Provisional Elector Council. Parliament, the Executive and the Supreme Court chose three people each. They are scheduled to take office Friday.

The CEP members chosen by the executive are:

1. Gérard Innocent, a lawyer originally from Gonaives, was the treasurer of the previous CEP
2. Alix Ambroise, originally from Jacmel, returned recently from Canada. He is considered close to the democratic sector.
3. Harold Julien, who was a member of the 1990 CEP.

The CEP members chosen by the Parliament are:

1. Gérard Toussaint, originally from the North. He is a professor who was a member of the former organization, the League of Former Political Prisoners and has held numerous positions within the public administration.
2. Jean Rénold Jean-Pierre is a high school professor and former member of the Assembly of National Democratic Progressives. He was also a candidate for the Lower House in Parliament.
3. Alexandre Lavaud, an engineer, is an activist dating back to the 60s as part of the National Union for Haitian Students against the Duvalier regime. He then left Haiti to study in France.

The CEP members chosen by the Supreme Court are:

1. Max Gaspard, originally from Marchand Dessalines, who until this nomination was the Secretary-Treasurer of the Artibonite Department's Electoral Bureau.
2. Yvon Guignard studied administration. He is originally from Saint Mark and was the local director of Electricity of Haiti and employed by the Justice Ministry.
3. André Bazile, of whom AHP was unable to gather any information.

An October 15 presidential decree accepted the resignation of the former CEP and invited the three powers (Supreme Court, Parliament and the Executive) to chose three representatives each for the nine member councils.

Five political organizations, including the National Front for Change and Democracy, which have nine parliamentary seats, criticized the government October 28 for the process of choosing the members and asked that the selection be more inclusive.

Four other political parties, the National Party for Agriculture and Industry, the Union of Patriotic Christian Democrats, the Party to Open the Gate and the Democratic Christian Party had also submitted their suggestion to the parliament.

The new CEP will organize the Territorial Collective elections which are necessary for the different assemblies to be put in place for decentralization. It will also organize elections for one third of the senate.

After the selection, the political counselor for the National Congress of Democratic Movements, Dumoit Eric Cantave, said that the CEP would have positive consequences for the Lavalas regime and negative consequences for the country.

Mr. Cantave said the government has made a mistake by not trying to compromise with the principal political parties, which is the only solution to an optimistic future.

One of the members of the National Coordination for the National Front for Change and Democracy, unionist Idly Cameau, had said on Monday that he favored the participation of political party representatives for a new Provisional Electoral Council.

Mr. Cameau is also the current head of the Committee of Haitian Workers (COH). He said that only FNCD and CONACOM should be involved as they have fair representation in Parliament. I will always fight for my forces if FNCD was part of the formation process of the electoral institution, he told AHP.

As for the meeting between FNCD with four other political parties regarding their input for the CEP, Mr. Cameau said it is more than normal that FNCD would associate with Lavalas than other parties.

With what is at stake from the elections, we hope that democratic sector and the government will work together, he said, to fight the anti-democratic forces. He hopes that concessions would be made so that all those who participated in the December 16 1990 victor would find themselves together again.