PORT-AU-PRINCE. — Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), July 27 began the final phase of preparations for parliamentary elections to be held August 9, to choose 20 Senators and 116 Deputies.
The Council has already distributed basic election day materials, and will be delivering ballots this week to the country’s 1,600 polling stations.
According to Marie Carmel Paul Austin, a CEP official, a total of 15,727 kits were sent out, each one including materials secured with UN support, such as seals, voting booths, indelible ink, transparent ballot boxes, and other articles needed to guarantee that the voting process proceeds appropriately.
Members of the Council have conducted training sessions for polling station personnel, preparing them to handle the voting and any unexpected problem which may emerge.
More than five million Haitians are eligible to participate in parliamentary and general elections this year.
A first round of voting for legislators will take place August 9, with a second round scheduled for October 25, when the country’s President, 1,140 assembly members, and local authorities will be elected.
The Electoral Council has additionally chosen December 27 as the date of a possible third vote, if no Presidential candidate receives the necessary percentage of the vote.
