Haiti Senator Steven Benoit statement to U.S. Congress seeking fair elections and exposing President Martelly's constitutional violations

We are taking the opportunity of this visit to brief you on some of the events that havebrought Haiti on the verge of a major political crisis. As legislators and believers in therepresentation of the people through legislative bodies, it is important for us to submitthis analytical paper to your attention. We thank you in anticipation for your kindattention.

Foremost, we would like to state that we are looking for ways to move ahead with Mr.Martelly toward the organization of democratic, fair, transparent elections as quickly aspossible to fill hundreds of posts at the local level and in the Senate (10 seats). Aslegislators we would like to maintain a stable political climate and work in harmony withthe executive branch to attract new investments, create new jobs, sustainability andkeep the hopes of the Haitian people for a better future.

However, since he arrived in power, Mr. Martelly has shown a profound dislike for democracy, legislative Representatives, as well as for the check and balance of thepowers granted to him by the constitution. Currently, municipal government is beingmanaged by hand-picked men and women totally dedicated to Martelly. This means thatall 420 municipal executive agents replacing the elected mayors whose term hasexpired, since 2011, are close Martelly political allies. Thousands of elected countyofficials have also been hand-picked by Martelly to replace those whose term had runout.