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Decem­ber 23, 2009
His Excel­lency René Pré­val — Pres­i­dent of Haiti
c/o Embassy of Haiti

2311 Mass­a­chu­setts Avenue, NW
Wash­ing­ton, DC 20008
click image below for story

Your Excel­lency:

I am writ­ing to express my con­cerns about the deci­sion of Haiti’s Pro­vi­sional Elec­toral Coun­cil (CEP) to exclude more than a dozen polit­i­cal par­ties from the Par­lia­men­tary elec­tions sched­uled for Feb­ru­ary and March 2010. I am con­cerned that these exclu­sions would vio­late the right of Hait­ian cit­i­zens to vote in free and fair elec­tions and that it would be a sig­nif­i­cant set­back to Haiti’s demo­c­ra­tic development.

As you know, I have a long­stand­ing com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing democ­racy and devel­op­ment in Haiti. I led efforts in the United States Con­gress to obtain debt can­cel­la­tion for Haiti. These efforts cul­mi­nated in the World Bank’s announce­ment last June that Haiti reached the “com­ple­tion point” for the Heav­ily Indebted Poor Coun­tries (HIPC) Ini­tia­tive and would receive com­plete can­cel­la­tion of its mul­ti­lat­eral debts. I am also work­ing to increase United States bilat­eral assis­tance to Haiti.

It is imper­a­tive that Haiti’s next elec­tions be free and fair and that they be per­ceived as free and fair. Polit­i­cal par­ties should not be excluded from an elec­tion with­out a legally com­pelling rea­son, deter­mined through a trans­par­ent, impar­tial process.

The CEP, to my knowl­edge, has not pro­vided a pub­lic, writ­ten expla­na­tion for the exclu­sions of the polit­i­cal par­ties from the upcom­ing elec­tions. The CEP’s fail­ure to explain the jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for the polit­i­cal par­ties’ exclu­sions for almost a month raises ques­tions about the valid­ity of these exclu­sions. The fact that the deci­sion was made by a pro­vi­sional CEP – one cho­sen by your office from a list of nom­i­na­tions from orga­ni­za­tions selected by your office rather than accord­ing to the 1987 Con­sti­tu­tion – also raises ques­tions about the fair­ness of the process.

I urge you to take appro­pri­ate action to ensure that the upcom­ing elec­tions in Haiti are free and fair. This includes tak­ing appro­pri­ate action to ensure that the CEP: a) pro­vides a com­plete, pub­lic expla­na­tion for the exclu­sions; and b) allows any polit­i­cal party that was excluded for any­thing less than a clear, com­pelling legal rea­son to fully par­tic­i­pate in the Feb­ru­ary elections.

Please com­mu­ni­cate with The Hon­or­able Hillary Clin­ton, Sec­re­tary of State of the United States; The Hon­or­able Eliot Engel, Chair­man of the Sub­com­mit­tee on the West­ern Hemi­sphere; and myself regard­ing the mea­sures you take in this mat­ter. I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work with you to sup­port demo­c­ra­tic devel­op­ment in Haiti.

Sin­cerely,
Max­ine Waters
Mem­ber of Congress

cc: Hon. Hillary Clin­ton, Sec­re­tary of State of the United States
The Hon­or­able Eliot Engel, Chair­man of the Sub­com­mit­tee on the West­ern Hemisphere