A/HRC/22/65 responsibility for the rule of law. Reporting directly to the Prime Minister, such a person would not take the place of the Prime Minister but would assume sole responsibility for promoting and coordinating the activities of ministries in this domain and putting the different pieces of the puzzle together in order to guarantee, over the long term, the establishment of a sustainable rule of law system in Haiti. III. Civil and political rights A. Elections 16. The independent expert welcomes the political commitment shown by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti, Mariano Fernández, and by his deputies to helping President Martelly as he took what were sometimes difficult decisions in the months following his election. At a time when voices are again calling for the withdrawal of MINUSTAH, political stability and the proper functioning of the three powers of State must be assured, if the authorities are to assume the functions of the international entities present in Haiti over time. 17. In May 2011, the mandates of 10 senators who had been elected in 2006 expired, depriving the Senate of a third of its members and making it difficult to secure the stable majority required to vote through the vital reforms proposed by President Martelly. Moreover, the Government’s decision to replace almost all the 120 mayors elected in 2006, whose mandates had long expired, was met with bafflement and incomprehension on the part of the national and international communities. 18. Since the election, the international community has stepped up its efforts to complete the institution-building process in Haiti and to establish the standing electoral council provided for in the 1987 Constitution. Indeed, until then, elections had been organized by a temporary electoral council that was subject to constant denigration and attacks on its credibility and suspected of political manipulation and manoeuvring. 19. In August 2012, President Michel Martelly officially nominated and appointed six of the nine members of the Standing Electoral Council, three representing the executive and three the High Council of the Judiciary. The process for designating the three members of the judiciary, initially undertaken by four out of nine members of the High Council of the Judiciary, was deemed to have been irregular and this prompted two members of the Council to resign. 20. On 24 December 2012, representatives of the legislature and the executive signed an agreement on the establishment of a new transitional college of the Standing Electoral Council to organize the upcoming by-elections and municipal and local elections. Like the Standing Electoral Council, the Transitional College of the Standing Electoral Council will be comprised of nine counsellors, nominated respectively by the legislature, the executive and the High Council of the Judiciary. On 29 December, the High Council of the Judiciary confirmed that its three members of the Transitional College would be the three persons that it designated during the second round of balloting. 21. It is not for the independent expert to take a position on a political agreement between the Government and the Parliament. Whatever the formula chosen, however, the independent expert recommends that it should reflect the requirements of the Constitution as closely as possible and rapidly lead to the holding of transparent elections, under international scrutiny, to fill all the vacant seats in the lower house and facilitate the holding of local elections and thus the restoration of the constitutional order. GE.13-10672 5