The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, welcomed the release by the country’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) of the preliminary results of the second round of the Haitian Presidential and Legislative Elections held on March 20, 2011.

Secretary General Insulza congratulates the people of Haiti, once again, for exercising their civic responsibility in a calm atmosphere on election day and for their patience during the tabulation process (by the Centre du Tabulation de Vote) of reports from some 11,000 polling stations. He also congratulates the authorities for ensuring that the process was conducted in accordance with the country’s Electoral Law and Constitution. This, the Secretary General believes, will serve to strengthen the rule of law and representative democracy in Haiti.

The OAS Secretary General wishes to record that the Joint OAS - CARICOM Electoral Observation Mission (JEOM) has been monitoring all aspects of the electoral process, including the work undertaken at the Tabulation Centre, at which the Mission has maintained a round-the-clock presence over the last two weeks. Indeed, the delay in the announcement of the preliminary results reflected the attention that was paid to the recommendations advanced by the JEOM and the OAS Expert Verification Mission to improve the transparency and integrity of the process for the second round of voting.

The preliminary results indicate that Michel Martelly has won the presidential elections handsomely with 67.57% of the vote. Once this is reaffirmed following the contestation phase of the elections, which will begin in the coming days, Mr. Martelly will become the next president of the Republic of Haiti.

The Secretary General looks forward to the next phase of the electoral process that allows the candidates to submit complaints and challenges. He calls on the candidates to make full recourse to the legal remedies provided by the electoral law during the contestation phase and to thereby maintain the atmosphere of peacefulness that has prevailed for the past few months.

HL/ HaitiLibre