At a meeting, this week, of the Group of Friends of Haiti in Washington DC, Albert R. Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), has praised the "commitment to peace and orderly conduct" of the Haitian People in the second round of elections that took place March 20th, 2011. He hopes the elections will be "the beginning of stability, recovery and reconstruction for the benefit of the Haitian people".

The Ambassador Ramdin, described the political climate during the second round of elections as "relatively stable" compared to the first round. Moreover he added that the return of former Presidents Aristide and Duvalier ahead of the elections, "did not appear to have any real impact or intervene with the process itself".

According to Ambassador Ramdin, Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) also appeared to make an effort to implement some of the recommendations contained in the OAS Expert Report. "Things were not perfect, but we saw that there was an attempt to improve," declared Ramdin.

Alternate Representative of Haiti to the OAS, Ambassador Laurence Pean-Mevs, thanked members of the international community who assisted with the Electoral Observer Mission. Ambassador Pean-Mevs also highlighted the "serene and tranquil environment that predominated last Sunday’s elections" adding that "we firmly believe the Haitian people will be accepting of the results, ensuring the setup of a new president in the near future"

An official report on the elections is expected to be presented by Colin Granderson, Chief of the Joint Electoral Observation Mission (JEOM).

HL/ HaitiLibre