Haiti’s Prime Minister Henry promises to create conditions for free elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The new Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, promised Wednesday to create the conditions for holding free, honest, and transparent elections as soon as possible.

Henry said that to achieve that purpose, he will continue his dialogue with various actors of national life.

“The mission of this Government is to create the conditions for elections to be held as soon as possible. Free, honest, and transparent elections”, he said.

The Chief of Staff made his statements at a press conference held at his official residence in Port-au-Prince.

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He assured that his government would remove all “irritants” that may prevent the achievement of a political agreement as soon as possible.

“Elections with broad participation of the population. And a Government that does not have a favorite or people to favor. To have this environment, we need security throughout the country,” he added.

A council of ministers was held this morning. During this meeting, Henry said he presented to his officials the overall vision and priorities for the period between now and the elections.

“We need free movement of people in the country. We need to restore the authority of the state, restore confidence in the administration and justice. We need social stability and respect for human rights,” he said.

To achieve this, Henry believes that a “permanent and structured dialogue” is more than necessary at the level of the government but also at the level of the population.

“In this structured dialogue, one of the things we are going to look for is consensus to reach an agreement between political forces and civil society as soon as possible,” he stressed.

He assured that one of his priorities is the “reconciliation of the nation and the unity of the Haitian family”.

He expressed his rejection of exclusion and reiterated his support for the investigation seeking to find those guilty of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7 to bring them to justice.

“We want to make a new model of government, transparent and above all without corruption. We will seek the welfare of the population. Because social security and the fight against unemployment are important,” he said.

Henry revealed that this week he had held several meetings with the national community. He promised to continue the dialogue with Haitian actors to reach a broad consensus that will allow them to govern peacefully and organize “good elections”.

He has met with actors in the economic sector, will continue to meet with political actors, and other meetings will occur in the coming days.

“The discussions are difficult but constructive. Dialogue remains the keyword for all the actions that my government will undertake to reconcile the Haitian nation,” he said.