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24219: RepresentAction: (news) ::: Meek Wants Haiti To Let Its Overseas Citizens Vote ::: The Miami Herald ::: January 26, 2005 (fwd)




From: RepresentAction <info@representaction.net>


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Meek Wants Haiti To Let Its Overseas Citizens Vote
The Miami Herald
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
By Jacqueline Charles
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U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, thinks Haitians living in the United
States and elsewhere should be allowed to vote in their country's
elections. But the Haitian government says it may not be able to cover the
costs.
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As a Haitian citizen living in the United States, Roland Montas would love
to be able to cast a vote in Haiti's upcoming presidential elections. But
to do that, the Miami community activist would have to take time off from
work and fly to Port-au-Prince.

"It does not make sense," Montas says. "Why should I as a citizen of my
country not be allowed to vote abroad? Everybody else is doing it."

Agreeing with Montas and many other Haitians living here, U.S. Rep.
Kendrick Meek on Tuesday sent a letter to interim Haitian Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue asking him "to take whatever actions are necessary to allow
Haitian citizens living in the United States to vote in Haiti's upcoming
national elections."

Meek's request comes as Haiti's electoral council prepares to adopt by the
end of this week its final plan establishing the legal framework, calendar
and procedures for the parliamentary and presidential elections, planned
for later this year.

If the government goes along with Meek's request, Haiti would join a
growing number of Latin American and Caribbean countries that allow
citizens abroad to vote.

"While some Haitians undoubtedly would want to return home to vote, it is
also likely that, for reasons of cost, family or work, others would greatly
benefit from having the option of casting their ballots in the United
States," Meek wrote.

The key, he said, is a willingness on the part of the Haitian "government
to permit this change, in the interest of making possible the widest
possible voter participation in Haiti's elections."

"IT'S IN STUDY"
The Haitian government is interested in such a change, said Alix Baptiste,
the Minister for Haitians Living Abroad. But the final decision rests with
the electoral council -- not Latortue, who has publicly said he believes
all Haitians, regardless of the passports they hold, should be allowed to
vote.

"It's in study," Baptiste said from Haiti, noting that the government
recently submitted such a request to the council.

In 1995, the electoral council agreed that Haitian citizens living abroad
should be able to vote -- but Haiti did not have the resources to pay for
it, it noted. Baptiste said such issues remain today.

"We need resources," he said.

Aware of that, Meek has asked President Bush and United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan to provide additional funds and assistance to let
Haitians vote at a consulate, or sites.

Some say Meek's request does not go far enough because it still leaves out
Haitian Americans and others who have become naturalized citizens of
nations other than Haiti. They would not be able to vote because Haiti's
1987 Constitution does not recognize dual citizenship.

"If Haiti is serious about its social and economic development, then it has
to do like Germany, like the Dominican Republic, Israel and other modern
countries that are ahead of Haiti and include all of its sons and daughters
wherever they might be," said Dumarsais Simeus, a Haitian businessman and
Texas resident who serves on Gov. Jeb Bush's Haiti Task Force.

POSSIBLE REFERENDUM
Dr. Emmanuel Francois, a retired Haitian-American surgeon and Maryland
resident said he is considering advocating a referendum among Haitians here
through a petition drive to force the issue.

"We can give Haiti a modern frame of governance," Francois said of Haitians
like himself. He said the worst problem "that has prevented Haiti from
moving forward, has been the human-resource factor. The people who have
been managing Haiti do not know what they are doing."

The Miami Herald
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
By Jacqueline CHARLES

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