Haitian President Michel Martelly has, for months, faced accusations that he holds a U.S. passport, making him ineligible for his office. Now, the country's senate has taken up the debate, as the newspaper Haiti Liberté reports:
Two weeks ago, Sen. Moïse Jean
Charles submitted what he called “irrefutable” evidence
to a special Senate Select Committee that Martelly and 38 other
high government officials hold dual, and sometimes triple,
nationalities.
On Jan. 24, Sen. Joseph
Lambert, the Commission’s president, announced in a press
conference that the Commission has confirmed dual nationality
for two of the 10 cases it has investigated to date. However,
Lambert has so far refused to release the names of dual
citizenship officials, saying his commission would proceed “impartially”
and “without emotion.” He said arrangements have been
made to continue the nationality investigations overseas.
The Senate inquiry threatens to
create a political crisis which may force President Martelly,
his Prime Minister Garry Conille, and other ministers to step
down. If the charges against him prove true, it means that
candidate Martelly lied to election officials about holding dual
citizenship, which current Haitian law explicitly forbids for a
high elected official.[...]
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Vice
President Andrice Riché said it was “scandalous that a
foreign citizen can deceive the vigilance of Haitian
institutions to enjoy privileges to which he is not entitled.”
He argued that “these citizens would have nothing against
[Haiti’s military] occupation” by UN troops, because “they
are true to nothing.” Sen. Riché argued that “giving up
Haitian nationality is an act of treason and the authors of such
an act should not have responsibilities in the management and
decision making for the country. If you said no to
Haitian nationality, you said no to the country.”
For an explainer piece last year looking at the question of whether Barack Obama might be eligible to run for president of some other country after producing his long-form U.S. birth certificate. Not every country's constitution is quite as specific as America's when it comes to the lifelong citizenship status of their heads of state. Haiti's is, however:
To be elected President of the Republic of Haiti, a
candidate must:
a. Be a native-born Haitian and never have renounced Haitian nationality;
b. Have attained thirty-five (35) years of age by the election day;
c. Enjoy civil and political rights and never have been sentenced to death,
personal restraint or penal servitude or the loss of civil rights for a crime of
ordinary law;
d. Be the owner in Haiti of at least one real property and have his habitual
residence in the country;
e. Have resided in the country for five (5) consecutive years before the date
of the elections;
f. Have been relieved of this responsibilities if he has been handling public
funds.
The five consecutive years requirement was what foiled Wyclef Jean's presidential aspirations last year. The constitution also states that any citizen that holds a foreign passport automatically renounces his Haitian citizenship, which is the rap against Martelly. Sweet Micky denies the charge:
“It’s a conspiracy organized by people who can’t believe Michel Martelly
is [going to be] the country’s President,” Martelly, aka “Sweet Micky,”
told a Port-au-Prince radio station. “I’m Haitian, I never renounced my
citizenship, my passport is Haitian.”
There doesn't seem to be any credible proof to the contrary. But it also seems that given the number of people who've fled Haiti's violence, poverty, and natural disasters over the last two decades, barring them from returning to serve in office is a bit impractical.
Hat tip: Marginal Revolution
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