10 February 2006
U.S. Looks Forward To Working with New Haitian Government
State Department calls February 7 Haitian elections free and fair
Washington -- A freely elected, democratic government of Haiti that is expected to assume office in March will have the support of the United States, says U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
Briefing reporters February 10, McCormack said that while the final results of Haiti's February 7 presidential and legislative elections are not yet known, the United States looks forward to working with the victors to build democratic institutions in the Caribbean nation.
McCormack added that whoever wins the vote "will be somebody that is elected by the Haitian people in what has been a free and fair election process."
While awaiting the final returns of the February 7 election, McCormack said it is clear that the Haitian people, through their high voter turnout, have decided to close a "particularly dark chapter in their history."
The United Nations says Haiti's new president is scheduled to take office on March 29.
McCormack's comments came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice congratulated Haiti on holding what she said were successful elections in the country. Rice praised the Haitian people "for demonstrating their commitment to democracy by voting in large numbers" in the election.
"Haitians can take great pride in the success of these elections," she said. (See related article.)
McCormack said that while certain incidents of violence marked Haiti's voting, along with the delayed opening of some polling places, "our judgment at this point has been that the Haitian people, and the Haitian electoral commission working with the international community, pulled off a good election."
The spokesman said the U.S. interest in working with Haiti's new government does not depend on where the country's elected leaders are positioned on the political spectrum. Rather, the U.S. interest is in seeing that the new Haitian leaders "govern in a democratic manner, and democracy is not just about Election Day," he said. "It is about how you govern. So that will be the focus of our efforts, and we look forward to working with the new Haitian government based on those principles."
Asked whether a U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known by the acronym MINUSTAH, should remain in the country, McCormack said the mission "has served an important purpose up to this point. I think we've seen the positive results from their efforts." He added that MINUSTAH will be a "topic of discussion" with the new Haitian government, especially in terms of the country's security situation.
McCormack said a big part of the international community's efforts to stabilize Haiti will be in continuing to train Haitian police officers.
"The Haitian government is going to need some assistance in building up a professional police corps presence, which will be very important to ensuring rule of law and a safe and secure environment for the Haitian people," said McCormack.
More information on the U.N. peacekeeping mission is available on the U.N. Web site.
For more on U.S. policy toward Haiti, see Haiti.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
