Haiti, despite its victorious revolution of the late 1700s that led to its independence in 2004, has been plagued with corruption from within and with exploitation by the outside world. The elections of a president are often imposed on the people of Haiti whether they like it or not.
One presidential election and two aborted runoff elections have left Haiti in a state of political gridlock. The presidential election held last October went pretty well, but it ended without any candidate having a majority of the votes. So a runoff election was scheduled for Dec. 27, 2015, and another one, and then another one until it becomes impossible to hold elections because of public pressure, protests and violence.
Every presidential candidate holds his ground; supporters take to the street, and violence ensued. It was chaos all over the island. Protesters who support various political parties join forces to demand the departure of President Michel Martelly even before his constitutional term ended on Feb. 7. They think president Martelly is a roadblock to having a free and fair election in the country.
The Organization of the American States, known in French as OEA, went to Haiti to appease the situation. It asked Martelly to remain in office past Feb. 7 until further notice. Then, the United Nations tried to intervene to advise on ways to solve the political stalemate, but to no avail.
President Martelly did leave the palace on Feb. 7. Facing a political vacuum in the country, the group of presidential candidates, also known as G8 along with the parliament came to a consensus where the incumbent Prime Minister Evans Paul fills the void until an interim president is designated. Privet of the Lavalas political party and a former tax collector is the interim presidential designee. All the presidential candidates but Jovenel Moise claimed fraud in the October 2015 election. It remains to be seen what the outcome of the next round of the election will be and how much the international community will meddle in it to dictate its choice of a preferred Haitian president.
Haiti has had a sad history, a history marred with corruption and the defiance of the international community that seeks to protect its interests in the country at any cost. Under the guise of assisting Haiti, the European Union and the United States are actively involved in Haiti's internal political affairs.They remotely dictate the policies of the impoverished island.
Those countries use scammed politics to suck the blood out of Haiti. They have a say in what's happening in the country because they contribute 70 percent of the Haitian government's budget. The ultimatum is either the Haitian government goes along with the so-called budgetary assistance, or Haiti financially collapses without. Every succeeding Haitian government has no choice but to grudgingly comply with the neo-colonialism agenda.
Now that they are registering candidates for the April 24 presidential election, let's wait and see how things turn out. For the people of Haiti have been longing for those presidential elections to take place. Too often, those elections are rigged with corruption from within and with exploitation by the outside world.
