On Feb. 16 Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) published its definitive list of candidates for the April 19 elections, which will fill 12 posts in the Senate. The lists did not include the candidates of the Lavalas Family (FL). The CEP had insisted that it needed official confirmation from the party's leader, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now living in South Africa, in order to confirm the FL's candidates. According to Maryse Narcisse, the leader of one of the party's rival factions, Aristide refused to sign documents before consuls appointed by people who forced him from power in 2004. (Haiti Support Group New Briefs, Feb. 17 from Reuters; AlterPresse, Feb. 17)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Feb. 22

See our last post on Haiti.