Haiti’s Military Regime Pledges Elections in ’90

The military government announced Sunday that Haiti will hold general elections next year, transferring power to a civilian president.

It will be Haiti’s first presidential election since Jan. 17, 1988, when civilian Leslie Manigat was elected in balloting widely regarded as rigged by the army. Manigat was ousted in a military coup five months later.

In a communique read over state radio Sunday, the government of Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril made the announcement of local, legislative and presidential elections next year.

The presidential elections will be held in two rounds--Oct. 17 and Nov. 11, 1990. The first round will be among an expected field of about 10 candidates, and the second will be a runoff among an unspecified number of the top vote-getters.

“All dispositions have been taken to guarantee security and ensure a peaceful transition of power,” the communique said.

The first free and fair general elections since Haiti gained independence from France in 1804 took place on Nov. 29, 1987. At least 34 voters were shot and hacked to death at the polls by thugs in collusion with the army, and the election was canceled.

Under Haiti’s constitution, no member of the military can run for president within a year of resigning. To seek office, Avril would therefore have to resign before Oct. 17, but he has said repeatedly that he is heading a transition government that eventually will relinquish power to civilians.

Transfer of power to a civilian government is one of the conditions the U.S. government has placed for full restoration of some $60 million in foreign aid suspended after the 1987 election massacre.

Avril, who holds a law degree and was formerly associated with the 30-year Duvalier dictatorship, was installed as president on Sept. 17, 1988, in a coup by noncommissioned officers demanding an end to state-sponsored violence. The coup overthrew Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy.

The government announced the elections dates after receiving the recommendations of an independent electoral council Saturday. The nine-member council, which was set up in April to organize and oversee elections, spent the month of August on a nationwide fact-finding tour.

The communique said the electoral council will set up its central, district, municipal and local offices between now and the end of the year and will take a census and register voters from January to March.

There are an estimated 3 million eligible voters, and the council will have to set up about 6,000 voting places.