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Pompeo Calls on Haiti to Set Date for Elections

Reuters

   Haiti should set a date for elections, U.S. Secretary of State Mike
   Pompeo said Thursday, more than a week after Haiti's president began
   ruling by decree.

   Pompeo did not specify which elections he was referring to, but Haiti
   failed to hold scheduled legislative elections last year.

   "We need to have the elections. That is important," Pompeo said in an
   interview with the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald."Once those
   elections will be held, there'll be a duly elected government. We won't
   have to be concerned about ruling by decree."

   The U.S. State Department provided a transcript of Pompeo's interview
   with the newspapers.

   Pompeo said he voiced concerns about the political situation with his
   Haitian counterpart in a meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday.

   The HaitianEmbassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a
   request for comment.

   Moise rules directly

   Haitian PresidentJovenelMoise is three years into a five-year term,
   which began in 2017 after the results of an initial vote, in October
   2015, werescrapped over fraud allegations.

   Moise's support in the country has never been overwhelming.Electoral
   turnout for the rerun election was low, with Moise receiving only
   600,000 votes in a country of 10 million people.

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