Haitian Electoral Calendar Announced by Government

The military-led Haitian provisional government, under pressure of widespread political protests, announced an electoral calendar Saturday night that will culminate in presidential elections in November, 1987.

Gen. Henri Namphy, head of the ruling National Council of Government, asked Haitians to help him bring democracy to the country by keeping calm and trusting him.

“Keep your confidence in Gen. Namphy and together we will save Haiti,” he said. But he added that he would not be a candidate for president. Unrest in Haiti has cost the impoverished Caribbean nation 12,000 jobs since the downfall of President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier in early February, Namphy said.

Although many politicians are in a hurry for elections, he cautioned that it will take time to build true democracy in a country where it has rarely worked.

“We want to prepare the country for a definitive government, but we want to prepare it well,” he said. “The process is very slow.”

Namphy said the political process aimed at elections would begin in the coming week with a “dialogue” between the provisional government and political, civil, professional, labor and other leaders. He said a new advisory commission would be formed with members from “all sectors of the population.”

“We want to give all these people direct access to the ones in charge of the country,” he said. The provisional government has been criticized for failing to consult with non-government sectors on major national issues.

Namphy made no concessions to demands raised by protesters during the last week for the dismissal of several government officials. “We cannot reject a man we know is competent,” he said.

The timetable, signed by Namphy, was read by the information minister, Herard Abraham.

In July, it said, decrees will be issued regulating the press and political parties. A constituent assembly, to draft a new constitution, will be elected in October.

The constituent assembly will vote on a new constitution in January, and the constitution will be submitted to a national referendum in February.

Local elections will be held in July, 1987, and elections for a president and national legislature will be held in November, 1987. The new president will take office on Feb. 7, 1988--two years after the end of the Duvalier dictatorship--according to the timetable announced Saturday.

Earlier Saturday, after five days of widespread anti-government protests, a group of political figures and civic activists demanded the formation of a new provisional government.

The group called on Namphy to head the new government but demanded that the three-member council be dissolved. The group also said that a new Cabinet should be formed with people chosen from the country’s “democratic sectors.”

“In case these demands are rejected, we call the population to a general strike in the capital and the provinces on Tuesday, June 10,” the statement broadcast and published Saturday morning said. It said peaceful protest marches would be held throughout the country along with the strike.

The group said it wanted Namphy as president because “right now we don’t see anyone who could replace him. To keep order and calm, we ask him to stay.”

Protests during the week resulted in at least two deaths. The only demonstration reported Saturday was in the far northern city of Port de Paix.

Some political analysts expressed fear that a general strike and protest marches Tuesday could result in bloodshed.

“We are living in a very dangerous situation,” said Marc Bazin, a politician with presidential aspirations. Bazin did not endorse the demand for a new government or the call for a general strike, but he proposed that a “crisis committee” of government officials and other leaders be formed.

“The crisis committee would help defuse the situation and avoid the bloody confrontation that I very much fear,” Bazin told a press conference.

The proposed committee should include political, labor, church, business and professional leaders, Bazin said. He said it would show that the authorities are willing to listen to Haitians outside government.