Hundreds in Haiti rally against OAS election mission
Haitians have staged a rally in the capital Port-au-Prince to protest against an international election mission, which they believe will meddle with the future presidential polls.
Several hundreds of pro-opposition protesters voiced their anger at the planned deployment of a special mission by the Organization of American States (OAS) with the declared aim of helping ease the political crisis in Haiti.
The OAS mission will act at the request of President Michel Martelly, but opposition activists insist that the outgoing leader and his foreign sponsors intend to rig the election in favor of the government’s hand-picked candidate.
The anti-Martelly protesters marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince, carrying red cardboard signs that read “Down with the OAS.”
“The time has come that we take the destiny of our country in hand after 212 years of destruction, and the OAS is always in the middle of these conflicts,” said protester Joenson Versailles.
Martelly’s term expires on February 7 and he is constitutionally barred from standing for re-election.
His favored presidential contender, Jovenel Moise, managed to win last October’s first round polls with nearly a third of the vote, and remains the favorite to win the race.
The leading opposition candidate, Jude Celestin, however, came in second place closely behind Moise, but refused to campaign ahead of the run-off round, accusing the government of working against him.
The presidential run-off, which was set to take place on December 27, was put off indefinitely last Friday, less than 48 hours before voting was to commence.
The opposition protesters demanded that Martelly, who has held power since 2011, resign immediately, and that an interim government schedule new elections in early February.
Martelly, however, has said he is “not going to leave the country in uncertainty” and vowed to find a solution for the political crisis.
Since 1986, when the president-for-life, Jean-Claude Duvalier, fled the country following a nation-wide uprising, the island nation has repeatedly struggled to hold credible elections.
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