Vérité of René Préval objects to candidacy of Sophia Saint Remy Martelly

On Thursday, April 23, 2015, the last day of filing nomination, Haiti's First Lady Sophia Martelly registered herself to run for a Senate seat representing the West department, which encompasses the capital of Port-au-Prince. The complaint of Vérité party is based on the status of holding dual citizenship by the First lady. As per Preval's complaint, the Haitian Constitution never permits any U.S. citizens to run or hold high public office in Haiti. However, on April 28, at the Office of the BCED, Martelly's lawyers had submitted a "Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States," purportedly signed on Mar. 31, 2014 by the U.S. Consul General Jay Thomas Smith that shows that she had "voluntarily executed an oath of renunciation of her U.S. citizenship on the date mentioned". However, many observers in the society like Sociologist Jean Andre Victor believe that the electoral council should be pro-active in disqualifying the candidates who do not meet Constitutional and Electoral Law requirements. "Be Haitian by origin" should not be confused with "Possess Haitian nationality by origin." A child of Haitian parents, who had lived as a U.S citizen for the last 40 years, by a sudden act of renouncing her U.S citizenship, can never become overnight a Haitian citizen eligible to run for the Senate.

Furthermore, the Haitian constitution never permits anyone to run an office of the President, Senator or Deputy in Haiti who had ever renounced own Haitian citizenship. Sophia Martelly although a child of Haitian parents renounced her Haitian citizenship in 1989 as at that time she used to live most of her time in the U.S.

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