Haiti - Elections : No second round before February 7
"Realistically speaking [...] We may be looking at some sort of temporary solution until there is a handover to a new elected president. Our fear is that we go into a situation that is open ended [...] In our analysis that is a dangerous place to go," indicated Monday Kenneth Merten the United States' Haiti Special Coordinator, adding "What is not a good thing is seeing people out on the streets and creating disruption and intimidation, that is not acceptable in our view. We are watching it very carefully, we are very concerned, we hope that dialogue between the candidates, the president and the president of the Senate and others can come to a solution," specifying that Washington wanted to see new elections quickly and was opposed to a long period of transition, but implicitly acknowledged that the elections would likely not take place until February 7, date of the Constitutional departure of President Martelly
Also the same day, Prime Minister Evans Paul was much more explicit in an interview with the Venezuelan television station where he declared "in the current context, it is clear that there will be no elections before the departure of President Martelly [...] We are in a situation of discussions, negotiations, there are several scenarios [...] Finally, we will organize the second round after the departure of President Martelly after February 7th."
