It’s been almost a month since the Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP) released the preliminary results for the 2016 Haitian presidential election. It has now officially published the final results.
In the past, the CEP has traditionally held a formal press conference prior to the release of any official election results.
However, in what many political observers are calling a surprise move, the CEP has decided to forego any official press conference this time around.
Instead, they opted to simply post the final results directly on the official CEP government website.
According to the official tally, Jovenel Moïse received nearly 55.60% of all votes. This was more than enough to capture a first round victory, eliminating the possibility of a second round run-off.
Just days after the preliminary results were announced on November 28, lawyers for Jude Célestin, Moïse Jean-Charles and Maryse Narcisse were among those who filed complaints with the Office of the National Electoral Litigation (BCEN) to challenge the preliminary figures issued by the CEP.
As a result, the BCEN conducted an audit of nearly 1,560 minutes of CCTV recordings from vote tabulation center. This represented about 12% of the total recording time that it took to complete all vote counting.
In its official press release, the BCEN ruled that it did not find any substantial evidence of “massive fraud” and that the “irregularities” found were not enough to warrant a significant change to the outcome of the electoral process.
With the release of today’s final results, Jovenel Moïse will indeed become the next president of Haiti.
He is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 58th president of Haiti on February 7, 2017.