Request for Documents and Clarification on the Constitutional Vote

Wilsonn Telimo Lwi

3 hours ago

3 min read

Request for Documents and Clarification on the Constitutional Vote

28 September 2026

To the Government of the Republic of Haiti

Copy to the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP)

Dear Government Representatives,

We write on behalf of ITIYAyiti to request the documents and explanations citizens need to examine the proposed popular ratification of changes to Haiti’s Constitution. The electoral decree published on 2 June 2026 provides for a yes-or-no vote alongside the first round of presidential and legislative elections. The CEP calendar currently sets 13 December 2026, subject to security and funding. We ask you to answer the questions below in writing and make the supporting documents available to everyone.

Final proposal and official publication. Please provide the complete, final wording of each proposed constitutional change, the number and date of the Le Moniteur issue in which it was published, and copies accessible in Haitian Creole and French. Article 194 of the decree requires publication at least 90 days before the vote. For a vote on 13 December, that date was 14 September 2026. Please identify the official publication that establishes compliance. If publication did not occur by that date, explain what action you propose concerning the timetable.
Explanation of the changes. Please provide an article-by-article comparison with the Constitution currently in force. Explain what each proposed change would do, when it would take effect, and what legal framework would apply following either a yes or a no result. Please also explain how an approved change would affect officials elected on the same day.
Constitutional authority. Please publish the government’s written legal reasoning addressing Article 284-3 of the amended 1987 Constitution. In particular, explain the legal basis for submitting constitutional changes to a popular ratification and how you distinguish that procedure from the constitutional prohibition on a referendum intended to modify the Constitution.
Ballot design. Article 220.1 sets out a single yes-or-no question about the proposed changes. Please explain why the changes are presented as one package and how a voter who agrees with some proposals but opposes others can express that view.
Conditions for equal participation. In coordination with the CEP, please publish the criteria for deciding whether security is sufficient to proceed. Explain the registration and voting arrangements for displaced citizens, those who have lost identity documents, voters with disabilities, and eligible Haitians abroad. Identify who will assess these conditions and when that assessment will be made public.
Observation, counting and remedies. Please ask the CEP to publish the procedures for accrediting observers, access to polling and tabulation, publication of polling-place records, reconciliation of local counts with announced totals, and the deadlines and procedures for complaints and challenges.

We request a meeting with representatives authorized to answer these questions and ask that an agenda be agreed in advance. Please send a written response, the cited documents, and a proposed meeting date within ten working days of receiving this letter. We intend to make the questions and official answers available to the public so that citizens with different views can evaluate the same evidence.

Our request seeks a clear legal record and conditions for informed, safe, and equal civic participation. We would welcome a substantive reply and will correct any factual error in our public materials if the official documents establish one.

Respectfully,

ITIYAyiti