Haiti kicks off three-day elections seminar to lay groundwork for 2005 polls

Haiti took a step closer on the road to democracy today as officials there began a three-day workshop on elections slated to be held next year in the troubled Caribbean nation.

Addressing participants, the head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Juan Gabriel Valdés, pledged that the world body would "assist the Transitional Government in its efforts to maintain and conduct a national dialogue of reconciliation in Haiti."

Haitian President Boniface Alexandre assured both the national and international community that the Provisional Electoral Council would organize a "safe, fair, credible and transparent election process which will end with the political transition in Haiti."