Ruling party candidates allowed to circumvent election rules.-

University Quisqueya President Jacky Lumarque argued that he did not need a certificat de decharge while submitting a request for one. His candidacy was approved by the electoral council although hopefuls in his same or less severe circumstance were disqualified.

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) – The candidate approved for presidential elections of Vérité, the party of former President Rene Preval, did not meet the requirements for candidacy, according to the standards placed by the CEP and used to eliminate dozens of highly-favored candidates from the elections.

Documents

DownloadMay 25, 2015: Audit court letter sent to National Palace

DownloadJune 2, 2015: Audit court letter sent to National Palace

Evidence shows that the Provisional Electoral Council allowed candidates for ‘ruling parties’ to circumvent laws it applied to disqualify dozens of other candidates.

The three presidential candidates seen here were approved by the CEP although lacking standard-level décharges that can be easily obtained. They are Jacky Lumarque, Jovenel Moise and Maryse Narcisse. They are candidates running for the parties of Haitian presidents, Rene Preval, Michel Martelly and Jean-Bertrand Aristide, respectively.

Evidence, in the form of official letters from the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes (CSC/CA), show that Jacky Lumarque (Verite #69) was approved without a standard-level décharge and, today, is so much as being accused of having perjured himself before the departmental electoral tribunal.

A letters dated May 26 and June 2, 2015 to the disgraced former Minister of Justice, Jean Renel Sanon, now working as the Secretary of the Presidency, reveals that court auditors had not issued the clearance document to Lumarque, even weeks after his approval.

On May 23rd, counsel for Jacky Lumarque argued that the presidential hopeful did not need a ‘certificat de decharge’ although at the same time a request from the campaign was made to obtain one. Sitting-senator Edwin Zenny is charging them with having made false declarations to dispute arbiters.

The first letter by the CSC/CA, dated May 26, 2015, announced that upon the request of the interested party, a commission of auditors was established to review the accounts. The second letter, dated June 2, 2015, shows that auditors were met with difficulty in trying to perform the audits and receive the spending records of Jacky Lumarque. The audit court demanded cooperation from the Martelly National Palace.

The evidence is affirming suspicions that the Provisional Electoral Council of Pierre Louis Opont is bending its own rules based on laws deemed frivolous in the current context. The ruling party candidates, those of Haiti’s most recent three presidents, Martelly, Preval and Aristide, were allowed to circumvent those regulations and the electoral council’s president proved it on Monday.

Senator Edwin Zenny was speaking of his disqualification on the weekday afternoon political commentary program, Intersection, with Jean Monard Metellus. Zenny had said he did not know why his candidacy was rejected when the show’s host and interviewer, Metellus, received a text message from CEP President Opont saying that Zenny was eliminated for having submitted his certificate on May 22, 2015, two days after registering, although he had presented a provisional certificate at the time of registration.

This is the reasoning for Zenny and many other candidates’ rejection, while Jacky Lumarque, an approved candidate, had not presented one. This is also the case for Jovenel Moise, the candidate for President Martelly’s PHTK and Maryse Narcisse, the candidate for Jean-Bertand Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas. Neither had presented the easily obtainable standard-level decharge.

Many ministers were disqualified from participating in the elections for not having ministerial-level decharges, a document that has never, in the history of Haiti, been issued. It must be issued by Parliament, which today is non-existent, and because of this, many see their disqualification as an injustice. If anything, ministerial-level decharges should be the exception since they are impossible to obtain but for the Provisional Electoral Council, it sets the rules backwards and apply them unfairly for power’s candidates.