- You are here:
- Home
- › Travel & living abroad
- › Travel advice by country
- › Country profiles
- › North & Central America and Caribbean
- › Haiti
North & Central America and Caribbean
Haiti |
|
|
|
Country information
POLITICS
Recent Political Developments
Successful municipal elections in December 2006 marked another important step forward in Haiti’s democratic process since the inauguration of President Rene Preval in May 2006.
Presidential elections were held in Haiti on 7 February 2006. The elections were originally due to start in November 2005, but were postponed 4 times due to logistical problems and security concerns. Following the elections, there were several days of demonstrations and sporadic outbreaks of violence due to the time taken by the Provisional Elections Commission to publicly announce the result. On 16 February, Rene Preval was declared the winner. The announcement eased months of political tension in Haiti.
A second round of Parliamentary elections took place on 21 April 2006. The Presidential inauguration of Rene Preval took place on 14 May 2006.
The EU deployed an Election Observation Mission to monitor the proceedings and the international community views the elections as fair and democratic. The 2006 elections marked an important point in Haiti's development. Haiti has suffered a chequered and volatile political history, marked by conflict and long periods of autocratic and semi autocratic rule. The development of the country's economy and people has been perpetually stifled as a result, making Haiti today the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with economic indicators on a par with the poorest countries in Africa.
Former President Aristide was first elected as President in December 1990, then ousted in a coup in September 1991, after which he spent the next 3 years in the US. The subsequent 3-year, interim, unconstitutional, military de facto regime was facing UN-mandated military intervention by mid-September 1994. On the brink of the UN, US-led intervention, its leader, General Raoul Cedras, and his fellow leaders agreed to step down.
President Aristide and other elected officials returned to Haiti in October 1994, and the restored Haitian authorities organised nation-wide local and parliamentary elections in June 1995. Aristide's term ended in 1995. He was barred from succeeding himself under the terms of the constitution and agreed to step aside and support a presidential election in December 1995, in which one of his main political allies, René Préval, was elected with 88% of the vote.
Towards the end of 1996, Aristide broke from his original Lavalas Political Organisation (OPL) and created a new political party, the Lavalas Family (FLO). Political gridlock followed flawed senate elections in April 1997, and the government was unable to organise the local and parliamentary elections due in late 1998. When local/municipal government elections were finally held on 21 May 2000 a multitude of political parties were represented and more than 60% of the electorate voted.
But due to a defective Provisional Electoral Council vote count methodology, the May 2000 election, in which Fanmi Lavalas enjoyed a virtual clean sweep, was deemed flawed by the International community and the Government of Haiti was sharply criticised.
The flawed May 2000 election marked the start of 3½ years of further political stalemate and turmoil, during which Aristide was 're-elected' President in a November 2000 election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties and characterised by very low voter turn out.
From 2001 until towards the end of 2003, despite protracted and intensive efforts by the international community spearheaded by the OAS with significant input from CARICOM, the stale-mate continued, with its under current of political violence and extortion. An apparently 'staged' coup at the Presidential palace on 17 December 2001 further entrenched the opposition parties to their position of not talking to Aristide's regime, further compounded by the latter's failure to pay OAS mandated reparations following the coup and to make progress on security/disarmament.
By the end of 2003 the political stalemate, and nation-wide disenchantment with Aristide, had reached a new level. An unlikely combination of the widely respected civil society 'Group 184' successfully calling for regular, peaceful, anti-government demonstrations, and a group of increasingly vocal and violent members of the ex-Army, succeeded in elevating anti-Aristide sentiment in the country.
Following an attack on dissenting students widely attributed to Aristide's 'chimères' (political bully boys) at the Port-au-Prince University on 5 December 2003, the situation continued to deteriorate moving into 2004, ironically Haiti's 200th Anniversary of Independence. Mediation efforts by the OAS and CARICOM continued to no avail, political violence escalated, and shortly after the ex-army militants had reportedly 'surrounded' Port-au-Prince towards the end of February 2004, Aristide asked for a US plane to help him into exile, resigned and left the country on 29 February 2004.
On Aristide's departure the UN Security Council adopted UN Resolution 1529, which amongst other measures called for the despatch of a Multinational Interim Force (MIF). The MIF began to deploy almost immediately on the adoption of the Resolution and a UN Assessment Mission. On 4 March 2004 a 'Tripartite Council' was named consisting of a representative of former President Aristide's 'Fanmi Lavalas' party; 1 named by the opposition; and a representative of the international community. This group was mandated to select 7 eminent persons (known as the 'Conseil des Sages'), which it did on 5 March. On 9 March the Council selected Gérard Latortue as Prime Minister from a short list of 3 candidates. The new Prime Minster swore in his government - of predominantly technocrats rather than politicians - on 17 March, and it was subsequently agreed that the interim government would work for elections within 2 years.
The MIF handed over to a UN force – MINUSTAH- with a 6-month renewable mandate in June/July 2004. MINUSTAH has had some success in conducting joint operations with the Haitian National Police in some of the traditionally lawless, gang- dominated parts of the country, including Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince. With the help of the international community, the interim government worked towards free and fair elections in early 2006.
The interim government worked closely with the international community to restore law and order in the country. Some of the long-standing 'no-go' areas in the capital Port-au-Prince and other areas are being tackled by the 7,000 strong UN mandated force, MINUSTAH, working in tandem with the Haiti National Police (PNH). However, the process of disarmament and the restoration of the rule of law in some of these difficult areas is likely to take years rather than months, and will present one of the main challenges to the incoming Haitian administration.
The MINUSTAH mandate was recently renewed for an extended 8 months until October 2007, under the command of Brazilian Major-General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, replacing General Jose Elito Siguera Carvalho. Tragically, former commander General Urano Teixeira de Matta Bacellar was found dead in his hotel room in 2006 after he committed suicide.
