The general elections scheduled for February 7 in Haiti will
produce a legitimate government which the international community
will recognize and can have dialogue with, said a UN spokesman on
Saturday.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the UN headquarters in
the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, David Wimhurst, spokesman for
the UN mission in Haiti, said that Haiti's problem today is the
problem of development, explaining that Haiti lacks water
resources, has insufficient power supply, and has an illiterate
rate as high as 65 percent, with an incomplete legal system and a
high crime rate.
Therefore, the country needs financial assistance by the
International community to solve these problems, said Wimhurst.
An legally elected government can ensure the effective usage of
the assistance provided by the international society for the
country, said Wimhurst, adding that the general election is not the
end, but an important step of the Caribbean country's development
process.
After the elections, the Haitian government and people will have
a lot to do in order to strip off poverty and backwardness,
stressed Wimhurst.
At present, the UN mission's primary task is to ensure the
smooth running of the presidential,legislative and provincial
elections in Haiti, all scheduled for February 7, he stressed.
"People will see a lot of soldiers and a lot of police around to
make sure people know the election is going to go smoothly,"
Wimhurst said.
Some 9,000 UN force of soldiers and police have been deployed
around the capital of Port-au-Prince and other areas to keep order
and ensure the safety of voters as well as transport and safeguard
sensitive election-related materials and data, said the UN
official.
About 36,000 people are now preparing for the election and their
efforts are enough to ensure fair, democratic and transparent
elections.
Commander of the UN Police Force Graham Muir told Xinhua on the
same day that Chinese UN policemen will be in charge of the
security at the building where results of the presidential and
legislative elections will be tabulated on election day.
After four year's delay, Haiti will hold its on Tuesday the
first election since Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ousting two years
ago, which is being contested by 33 presidential hopefuls. If no
one wins a majority, the top two vote-getters will face off in a
March 19 runoff.
Nearly 3.5 million eligible voters have registered for the
coming presidential and legislature polls.
(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2006)
