Election - Haiti Observer Blog

'Vérité', the political party of the former Haitian President René Préval has lodged complaints along with other political parties on the legitimacy of Haitian first lady's candidacy for the Senate. 'Vérité', like other political parties, has filed the objection at the department level and would take the matter to the National Electoral Office of Disputes (BCEN), as the report of Sentinel dated May 4, 2015 suggests. The primary source about learning Preval's lodging complaint, was a journalist from 'La Matin'.

The First Lady Sophia Saint Remy Martelly was born in New York, USA on October 9, 1965. She submitted her nomination on behalf of her husband's center-right liberal "Tèt Kale Party (PHTK) on the final day. The heaps of complaints that have been lodged against the validity of her candidacy, were mainly based on the provisions of the Article 96 (1) of the Haitian constitution and that reads like that......" To be elected to the Senate, a person must be a native born Haitian and never have renounced his nationality". The first lady renounced her Haitian citizenship in 1989 because then she used to spend more time in the U.S and before 2011, dual citizenship was not permitted in the Haitian constitution. However, Gregory Mayard Paul, the lawyer of Martelly Presidency has submitted a Certificate of Loss of Citizenship of the United States of America with a date one year earlier and that states that on March 31, 2014, the first lady had requested for the expatriation of her American citizenship.

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In 2015, Mr. Pierre-Louis Opont who was at the time the President of the CEP in Haiti and who also was responsible to conduct election in 2000 admitted that the result of the election he publishes in 2000 was contrary to the actual results and that he was obligated to publish the results fabricated to avoid popular uprising.

Taking a closer look at the whole incident, one might conclude that Mr. Opond has actually conspired with the international community to arm the sovereignty of Haiti. He allowed Michel Martelly to be qualified for the run off election in lieu of Jude Célestin of the political party INITE who earned square and fair that right. Ironically, Pierre-Louis Opont was rewarded by Michel Martelly as he was chosen to run the next election in 2015.

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Candidate for President Moise Jean Charles might want to consider calling the forces that he believes in. Whether it is God, the "Lwas", etc. this is the time for the candidate to pull his "Baton Moise" to ask for special help as the CEP is considering the possibility to remove him from the Presidential race. It has been rumored that there are some funds given to him when he was the Mayor of the city of Milot for which he did not receive a "Decharge" for".

Kandida pou Prezidan Moise Jean Charles ta ka vle konsidere rele fòs yo ke li mete konfyans yo nan . Kit se Bondye, " Lwas a", elatriye, sa se tan pou kandida a rale " Baton Moise " pou mande èd paceke CEP a ap konsidere posibilite pou yo retire l ' soti nan ras pwezidansyèl la. Ginyin rimè ki di li pa ta resevwa décharge pou yon lajan lite resevwa lè li te Majistra a nan vil Milot

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On Thursday, April 30th around 11pm, the Departmental Electoral Office of Litigation (BCED) West 1, has given its verdict that the first lady Sophia Martelly meets all the requirements of the Haitian constitution and the Election Decree to become a candidate for the Senate. Earlier, after submitting her nomination, some challengers like Dr Louis Gérald Gilles of Fanmi Lavalas, Marie-Denise Claude, Me Tranquilor Mathieu (Unité Patriotique) and the platform JUSTIS had challenged her candidacy on two main grounds. Firstly, she holds dual nationality, U.S and Haitian and secondly, as the President of the National Commission Against Hunger & Malnutrition, she still holds a fund of $234 at her disposal on which she has not received any certificate of discharge as required for accounting of public funds, under the law.

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"Vérité", a political party of the former President René Préval, has placed itself among the complainants to object the candidacy of the First Haitian Lady Sophia Saint Remy Martelly, for the Senate of the Haitian Republic. President Preval is an experienced politician who had confronted a number difficult situations and he is the only president in the country who has completed two terms as the President of the nation. Even there were some instances in the past when President Martelly sought advice from him. This news of filing Preval's objection was revealed by a Le Matin journalist, Walter Cameau.

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On Thursday, May 1, 2015, the office of the Department of Electoral Litigation (BCED) Ouest 1, has delivered its verdict on the legitimacy of the First Lady Sophia St-Rémy Martelly's candidacy to the Senate of the Haitian Republic. The tribunal under the presidency of Wally Désence constituted by Me Merlan Bélabre and of Me Mario Delcy, has announced that the charges framed against the First Lady were found unacceptable as they were groundless to warrant any action against her candidacy and hence rejected. We may remember that some opposition leaders like Dr Louis Gérald Gilles of Fanmi Lavalas, Marie-Denise Claude, Me Tranquilor Mathieu (Unité Patriotique) and the platform JUSTIS, had earlier challenged her candidacy on two main constitutional grounds-- dual citizenship and her involvement with an unsettled public fund.

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The Provisional Electoral Council has reconsidered its initial decision and now has decided to remove Jacky Lumarque of the Verite Party from the race for not having his discharge certificate which is a requirement by the electoral decree in its Article 90. Mr. Jacky Lumarque was the candidate for the Political Party VERITE which was formed by former president Rene Preval.

According to the CEP, the candidate of VERITE did not provide a dischage certificate for his management as Coordinator of the Working Group on Education and Training (GTEF). The letters from the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes (CSC/CA) demonstrated that the candidacy of Jacky Lumarque was approved without a standard-level décharge.

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We just learned that the candidate for the political party MUDHAH, François Levelt, has been removed from the race for president in Haiti. The CEP made that decision on Friday, June 19, 2015 due to possession and trafficking of crack and cocaine in the United States.

Nou jis aprann ke yo retire nan ras pou prezidan kandida pou pati MUDHAH politik la, François Levelt. CEP a te pran desizyon sa nan Vandredi, 19 jen, 2015 akòz posesyon ak trafik krak ak kokayin nan Etazini.

Ki sa nou panse?

What do you think?

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Haiti's electoral council has released the final list of presidential candidates approved to participate in the upcoming presidential election in Haiti. After analyzing 70 applications of candidate, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has approved 58 candidates. Former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe is excluded from the list

Final list of candidates approved by the CEP to participate in the next Presidential election in Haiti:

Alexandre Jean Bony - CONCORDE NATIONALE

Andre Amos - FRONT UNI POUR LA RENAISSANCE D'HAITI

Andre Michel - PLATEFORME JISTIS

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The deadline to register the nomination for the August 9 legislative election has expired on Thursday, April 23rd midnight. According to an official report, more than 2,000 candidates from as many as 125 political parties have registered for 119 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 20 open Senate seats. Most of the candidates are running after the mayoral posts as it give access to the most powerful neighborhood leadership. Haiti has a history of turbulent elections, but in no way that dissuades candidates to participate in election.

The law permits every individual to form political parties. International observers believe that although the electoral council cannot force, but it can merely recommend parties to form coalitions, however, the parties on their own interest may form coalitions. Presently, President Martelly is ruling the country by decree since the Parliament was dissolved on January 12, 2015. The terms of one third of the Senate had expired with the expiry of the entire member of the Chamber of Deputies on that day.

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