The “dangerous instability” of the only country in America with more than 20 governments in 35 years

PUERTO PRINCIPLE.- This is the last mandate that opposition sectors, lawyers, academics and churches have given to the President Jovenel Moïse leave office, considering that His five-year term is coming to an end.

Moses, for his part, who was sworn in in 2017 (a year after what was assumed due to irregularities and protests that led to the repeat of the 2015 elections), tosure his government will end in 2022.

The arrival of February 7, the day when according to The constitution must occur the transfer of power, was preceded by a wave of protests and strikes that resulted in the militarization of the streets of Port-au-Prince and other towns in the Caribbean country.

“The current focal point of the tensions is that, according to a growing group of actors, the president’s term ends this Sunday and the president has a different interpretation,” he said. BBC Mundo Alexandra Filippova, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

“But there is no window for dialogue. Each of the parties takes very strong positions and at this stage the scenarios on what will happen are not very encouraging,” he adds.

Last week, the Haitian opposition announced that it would appoint a “transition commission” which elect an “interim president” from among the members of the Supreme Court and he will organize elections within two years.

Moses, for its part, this week announced a referendum for next April to approve a series of constitutional reforms which, among other elements, allow presidential re-election for two consecutive terms, which has been prohibited since the end of Duvalier’s dictatorship (1986).

The scenario, according to experts consulted by BBC Mundo, is one of the most tense times Haiti has experienced in recent years, which speaks volumes in a nation marked by a never-ending history of political, social and instability. economic.

Since The Duvalier dynasty was overthrown 35 years ago on SundayHaiti has endured successive power crises, contested elections and coups d’état that have made it the continent’s nation that has had the most governments in the shortest time since the turn of the 20th century.

From 1986 to the present day, the country has had about twenty governments, headed by military, elected or interim presidents, councils of ministers or transitional governments.

The drop that fills the glass

According to Filippova, the controversy over Moses’ end of term and his controversial constitutional reform was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” of a process that had its roots in the electoral process itself.

“It’s a scenario that is more complicated than the end of mandate date, if we take into account the fact that the president Moses was elected by around 600,000 votes in a country of 11 million people“, dice.

“Then, since taking power, there have been strong accusations of corruption, that the government has not only failed to protect the population from violence, but has also been complicit in some acts of violence,” said -he.

“He was also strongly questioned for how he cracked down on protests against him and how he failed to contain crime and kidnappings, which increased by over 200% during his rule.” , he said.

Robert Fatton, professor at the University of Virginia, United States.He points out that another of the things that sounded the alarm bells the most in the Caribbean nation is “the way the president has consolidated power.”

In January 2020, Moïse dissolved Parliament and has ruled Haiti by decree ever since.

“There is no Parliament, there is no Prime Minister, so we find ourselves in a situation where Moses is the sole and exclusive power in the country for the moment”, also declares the author of the book “Haiti’s Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy” (2002) (“The predatory Republic of Haiti: the endless transition to democracy”).

Controversial

As Fatton explains, the end of term controversy has its roots in the “double readings” that have been made of Magna Carta.

The Haitian Constitution establishes that the duration of a government is five years and that the change of power must take place on February 7, the anniversary of the end of the dictatorship.

“ In practice, in Haiti, all the elections, without exception, since the end of the Duvalier regime, have created serious social crises, so that, as long as the differences are resolved, second rounds take place or are – they repeated the elections, the date that the Constitution establishes has passed, ”he said.

However, he says, this did not lead governments to go “in search of wasted time” as Moses is now trying to do.

<< (Former President Jean.Bertrand) Aristide suffered a coup and when he returned to the country and regained power, he also wanted to ask for this extension of his mandate and this was not authorized. That's why there are doubts as to whether it should be allowed now, ”he says.

“There is also the fact that many consider that Moses interpreted the law for his own benefit, dwhich Congress overturned last year because it was formed in 2015 using as its argument the same law that governed its election, which would imply he would have to leave on Sunday, ”Fatton said.

“In other words, the president used the opposite logic to dissolve parliament from the one he currently uses to stay in power and which has led not only the opposition but most social sectors to oppose it.” , he adds.

BBC Mundo reached out to the Haitian government to find out its position on the end-of-term dispute, but did not receive an immediate response.

Reform

According to Filippova, the constitutional reform proposed by the president also raised questions about the procedures proposed to implement it.

“Moïse created a commission which proposes a referendum to approve it in April. The problem with this maneuver is that it is totally unconstitutional under the current Constitution, which clearly states that the law cannot be changed by referendum, that’s exactly what it does“, dice.

Fantton, for his part, says the opposition’s proposed alternative of setting up a transition commission and appointing a Supreme Court judge as president is also not contemplated by law.

“We are talking about political actions on both sides that go beyond the framework of the current Constitution,” he said.

According to the academic, the The current situation of political instability in Haiti cannot be seen outside the context of poverty, inequality and interference from foreign powers that the country has experienced throughout its history.

“It is an issue which has its roots in gigantic economic inequalities, in the political tradition deeply rooted in authoritarian solutions to social problems and in the influence of the international community which has constantly played a mediating role in politics. Haitian for his benefit. . “, He said.

“This social polarization and instability in general are part of the fabric of Haiti and I don’t think there will be a medium term solution. If we add the problems generated by covid-19 and the economy was already destroyedIt is easy to predict that we are headed for many more protests and dangerous social and political instability. “

BBC Mundo

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