October 20, 2015
The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (EOM/OAS) for this Sunday’s elections in Haiti, headed by Brazil’s former Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Celso Amorim, will complete its deployment this week with the arrival of 125 international experts and observers from 27 different countries.
This team joins the specialists who have been in the country since October 1 to observe preparations for the presidential, legislative, and local elections on Sunday, October 25.
To make the voting process more efficient, the Mission urges voters to use the means placed at their disposal by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), including voter lists published in its departmental and municipal offices and on its website, to determine beforehand where they should vote. The Mission also urges citizens to be patient on election day, given the complexity of organizing an process that will simultaneously elect a president, deputies, senators, and municipal councils, which may delay the opening of polling places and the vote counting.
The EOM/OAS has verified the work that is being done jointly by the Haitian National Police (PNH, from its initials in French) and the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to strengthen election-day security, to avoid a recurrence of the violence that occurred during the legislative elections of August 9. The Mission appeals to all political parties and citizens to join in these efforts by coming out to vote in a massive, orderly, and peaceful manner.
The Mission considers that the October 25 elections are a great opportunity for Haitian democracy and one that should be taken advantage of. To this end, the EOM/OAS reiterates that it is essential for all stakeholders in the electoral process to work together to ensure elections that are conducted normally and respect the will of the Haitian people.
On October 25 the OAS will deploy three simultaneous Electoral Observation Missions with more than 230 observers in three subregions of the Hemisphere: Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. In addition to Haiti, there will be observers in Guatemala and Colombia. It will be the first time that three EOMs are deployed on the same day since the first Mission in 1962.
Reference: E-315/15