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Haiti - Elections : Open Letter from the Diaspora to Martelly 25/10/2015 06:08:17
"Excellence, The Haitians of the Diaspora will not vote in the presidential elections of 2015 in spite of the fact that we have had the Constitutional right to exercise our right to vote since June 19, 2012. We will not exercise our right to vote even though you have made such promises during your campaign and several times after you became the President of the Republic. We, Haitians of the Diaspora, will not vote even though we have urged your administration, for several months now, through several letters and meetings, to put in place the necessary measures for the Haitians of the Diaspora to vote in the Embassies, the consulates and other authorized voting centers. Mr. President, while you still have the power to do so, we ask that you establish clear policies and regulations that will be legally binding on all future governments for the Diaspora to exercise its right to vote through the Embassies, the Consulates and authorized voting centers in the Diaspora in all future elections. As members of the United Front, we are not naïve. We have understood all along that the Diaspora would have to struggle to exercise our right to vote. Just as we fought for years to achieve Dual Citizenship, we are prepared to wage that struggle in the short and long term to exercise all of our rights as Haitian Citizens. Certainly, we want to express our gratitude to you for publishing the Amendments to the 1987 Constitution voted into law by the 49th Legislature to officially restore Haitian nationality to compatriots who had become naturalized citizens of other nations; and to officially recognize that all individuals born in the Diaspora to a Haitian mother or to a Haitian father are Haitians. We also, thereby, accrued our constitutional right as Haitian citizens to Vote. The Diaspora had worked long and hard for this victory for our nation. On June 19, 2012, you showed your understanding that you are the President of all Haitians whether we are living in Haiti or in the Diaspora. However, Mr. President, you missed an unprecedented opportunity to reinforce your commitment to be inclusive when you failed to clarify to the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) and by Extension to its President, Jean Louis Opont, that it had the legal authority via the Constitution to put in place the necessary measures for the Haitians of the Diaspora to exercise its constitutional right to vote in the Embassies, the Consulates and in authorized voting centers. Since you published the Constitutional Amendments on June 19, 2012, Haitians in the Diaspora have been pushing for your administration to put in place measures for us to vote. Last April, we re-intensified our efforts to remind you and appropriate members of your administration of this urgent and sacred right. We sent letters to your office and to the Prime Minister, Evans Paul. Upon receipt of the letters, the Prime Minister requested that the United Front invite him to come to meet with us in Washington, DC. Unable to attend, after confirming, the Prime Minister sent the Minister of Haitians Living Overseas, Mr. Robert Labrousse, and his Special Adviser, Professor Watson Denis, to meet with us on July 17, 2015. We traveled from various states to attend the meeting in Washington D.C. We also invited an international firm with many years of experience running elections in various difficult places throughout the world. Together, we made a comprehensive presentation to Minister Labrousse and Professor Denis on the importance and the feasibility of the Diaspora Vote. We even offered a specific and credible plan for the immediate implementation of the Diaspora vote in the Haitian Embassies, the Consulates and other authorized voting centers. These government officials were very impressed. They returned to Haiti and recommended going forward. Minister Labrousse sent to the United Front several letters that were exchanged between himself and Minister Jean Fritz Jean-Louis, delegated to the Prime Minister on issues of elections. These two ministers agreed and wrote to President Opont recommending that measures be put in place for a pilot project for the Diaspora to vote starting with major cities with the greatest concentration of Haitians. These potential cities included Miami, New York, Montreal, Boston, Paris, etc. In his letter of response to these two ministers, President Opont embraced the notion of the pilot project as a good approach. However, he stated that he did not have the legal authority to take the necessary steps to effectuate the Diaspora vote overseas. President Martelly, the United Front to Exercise the Diaspora Vote categorically disagrees with Mr. Opont. The Haitian Constitution 1987, Amended, through articles 11 and 52.1, gives Mr. Opont the legal authority to take the necessary steps to effectuate the Diaspora vote for Haitians in the Diaspora. His perception that he lacks the legal authority to implement the Diaspora Vote outside of Haiti is based squarely on the fact that the constitutional provision on the right to vote in the diasporic space has not yet been clearly put into operation by your administration. On the other hand, it has come to our attention that the Director of the Office of National Identification (ONI) had begun to put in place new equipment; and to train consular staff on such equipment, in certain consulates, to register potential voters in the Diaspora to vote in the Presidential Elections 2015 and in future Haitian elections. The Haitian Constitution of 1987, Amended, supersedes the Electoral Decree. Since President Opont's interpretation is, in fact, inconsistent with the Constitution as to whether he has the legal authority to effectuate the Diaspora Vote, the Electoral Decree must be clarified and aligned with the Constitution. Therefore, the United Front to Exercise the Diaspora Vote demands that you clarify and/supplement the current Electoral Decree to make sure that this and all future CEPs understand their clear and unequivocal constitutional authority/mandate to organize the means for Haitians living in the Diaspora to vote in all future Haitian elections ad infinitum. You can then declare to the world that you are expanding democracy to all Haitians, through the public declaration of Executive Order to the CEP that the Haitians living in the Diaspora will henceforth be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote in the Haitian Embassies, the Consulates and other authorized voting centers. President Martelly, there is no better time than now to be on the right side of history and to seize this occasion to accomplish this unprecedented political achievement of being the President who put in place the unequivocal steps for the Diaspora to vote. This achievement will be a promise kept and a strong message to the international community projecting Haiti and your administration as champions of democracy. We know that the country faces many problems. However, we believe that the inclusion of the Haitians of the Diaspora is part of the solution. The United Front to Exercise the Diaspora Vote represents a group of concerned Haitian citizens in the Diaspora joining hands and voices to mobilize Haitians in the Diaspora, their children, their friends and allies to help Haiti develop into an equitable society that can improve the quality of life for all of its citizens. We remain available for any assistance you may require for the Diaspora to Exercise its Right to Vote. Patriotically yours," Judge Lionel Jean-Baptiste For the United Front to Exercise the Diaspora Vote For the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti Attorney, Lynn Toussaint For the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti HL/ HaitiLibre
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