Municipal elections are not likely to take place in 2014

“We will do our possible best so that these elections materialize as early as possible… There is for the time being no way we can engage such a project for related legal acts have neither been drafted nor passed yet” declared Beatrice Atallah, head of the National Electoral Commission when addressing the municipal elections. They were basically supposed to take place this year, according to an electoral schedule drawn and agreed on by the International Community and the transitional ruling back in 2013. Since the plan seems to have backfired, the actual course of events is likely to suffer more or less major changes. The National Electoral Commission stated besides: “after due consideration of the difficulties littered path imposed by legal commitments, it appears to be impossible to hold communal elections as expected in 2014.” No room for doubts allowed any longer. Some local political leaders openly blame this failure on alleged coercion on the ruling power. Generally speaking, they do believe the HVM presidential party to lack readiness to face elections at all. In between, although their term formally ended 3 years ago, the acting 1500 mayors throughout the island keep in charge through another extension