EU: No Funding or European Observers for Referendum in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - The European Union announced Thursday that it would neither finance the organization of the referendum scheduled for June 27 in Haiti nor send observers for this election, deeming the process insufficiently transparent and democratic in a country plagued by insecurity and political instability.

"The conditions for financial and technical support for the organization of the elections are absolutely not met at this stage, so we have refused to contribute to this process as it is," said the ambassador of the European Union to Haiti, Sylvie Tabesse. "We consider that the process does not give all the guarantees of transparency and democracy that we would be entitled to expect, therefore … if the [Haitian] government asked us, we are not considering to respond positively for an observation mission," added the diplomat during a meeting with several journalists in the Haitian capital. Since January 2020, President Jovenel Moise has governed by decrees and without checks and balances because of the lack of elections in recent years.