Uder Antoine, the Executive Director of the Provisional Electoral Council, informed that it is the firm of Dubai "Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing" which was again selected for the printing of ballots, following an international tender, heavily criticized by local printers.

The offer of the firm of Dubai is estimated at US$2,552,556 (including transportation), outperformed two other bidders, an English company and a South African.

Note that despite the interest shown no Haitian firm has participated in the tender for the manufacture of sensitive materials and ballots. According Uder Antoine two Haitian firms were interested, but they have finally withdrawn.

Uder Antoine explained that the international tender was an obligation under an agreement signed in 2015 between the Haitian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As he remained US $ 6 million in the fund composed of foreign contributions and that no Haitian funds were available, the use of these foreign funds involved necessarily the compliance with the terms of the agreement with UNDP.

Note that in the first tender in 2015 for the printing of ballots, Haitians bidders were excluded being too expensive.

TB/ HaitiLibre