Haiti - OPC / CEP : Right to vote and citizen participation in referendum and electoral processes
A delegation from the Office for the Protection of Citizens (OPC), composed of Jean Wilner Morin, Citizen Protector, his Deputy, Amoce Auguste, and Jude Jean Pierre, Director General of the OPC, visited the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to discuss with electoral councilors the respect of voting rights and the participation of citizens, particularly displaced persons, in the referendum and electoral processes.
Patrick Saint-Hilaire, President of the CEP, General Treasurer Jacques Desrosiers, and Councilors Rose Thérèse Magalie Georges and Yves Marie Edouard, representing the human rights and women's rights sectors respectively, participated in the meeting, which lasted approximately 90 minutes.
The OPC delegation sought to inquire about the progress of the referendum and electoral processes while ensuring that citizens' rights are respected at all stages of these processes. The Ombudsman and his team took the opportunity to inform the CEP members that the OPC will soon organize workshops to promote broader consultation on the preliminary draft of the new Constitution.
The idea is to gather public comments, consolidate them, and submit them to the executive branch before the text is adopted by the Council of Ministers, emphasized the OPC delegation, which also discussed the issue of updating the electoral roll and the participation of women as both candidates and voters.
President Saint-Hilaire welcomed the OPC's approach and assured that the CEP, as a technical institution, intends to continue preparing the machinery for the organization of the constitutional referendum and elections with significant citizen participation. With this in mind, advisors will travel to the region starting this week to consolidate the progress already made, he announced, expressing his satisfaction with this strengthened collaboration between the CEP and the OPC.
