Haiti considers postponing presidential vote

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -- Haiti's government has indicated it might postpone a presidential election set for November 26 which the opposition, upset over tainted parliamentary polls earlier this year, has threatened to boycott.

"The government is ready to agree with any accord if it agrees with the Haitian constitution and law," Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said Thursday night after meeting with a delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS).

"But no matter what, we must have a new president by February 7." If there's a political agreement, the government will work with the CEP (Provisional Electoral Council) to schedule a new date for the presidential elections."

The election is scheduled for November 26, with a runoff set for Dec. 17, and Haiti's constitution mandates that a transfer of power take place February 7.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, registered for the presidency last week and is virtually guaranteed to win.

Aristide, ousted by a military coup seven months after taking office, was reinstated by a U.S.-led invasion in 1994, and was constitutionally barred from running for two consecutive terms. His protege Rene Preval has led the Caribbean nation of 8 million people since 1996.

An OAS delegation came to Haiti a week ago to reach a solution over the parliamentary elections in May and June. The international community contends 10 senate seats should have been forced to a runoff after no candidate won an absolute majority.

The OAS brought together Aristide's majority party Lavalas Family and the opposition coalition Group de Convergence in the first face-to-face dialogue since the vote.

Convergence has called for results from the parliamentary elections -- a landslide for Lavalas -- to be reexamined and the organization of a new CEP to oversee the presidential vote.

"We have some problems before that," Ariel Henry, a member of Group de Convergence, told Reuters after the OAS meeting. "It's obvious that Nov. 26 elections will not work."

The devolvement came amid a background of unrest in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas and with a history of dictatorship and military rule.

Eight high-ranking police officers were arrested this week in what officials called an alleged coup plot. Six were detained by the Dominican military at Haiti's request after fleeing to the neighboring Dominican Republic and two officers were arrested Wednesday in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Neither Alexis nor Preval provided details on what the alleged plot involved and there were no reports of violence against government officials or buildings.

Haiti's civilian police force was created after its army was disbanded in 1991 for its role in the military coup that ousted Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest with a popular agenda for more social justice.

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