On October 25, 2015, Haiti held presidential elections, but no candidate had won any majority of votes. The result was a draw between Jude Celestin and Jovenel Moise. Now without a clear winner, the runoff election is scheduled for December 27, 2015. As a citizen, President Michel Martelly supports one candidate: Jovenel Moise. The opponents of the president accuse him of being biased in his support for the candidate. Their complaint is based on the assumption that the government’s support for a candidate means the prelude of electoral fraud to benefit the supported candidate. Even though the election was held democratically and peacefully in the presence of international observers, supporters of losing candidates claim fraud and organize mass protests throughout the island.
After about 200 years of dictatorship, Haiti is a crawling democracy at its prime infancy. Having a democratic system in a country like Haiti that holds free elections is a step in the right direction. The October 25, 2015 election symbolizes this concept, but democracy in a small and poor country like Haiti should have been gradually implemented. It would require the proper education of the people about the new system of government and the necessary techniques to filter out the common mindset of fear, repression and dictatorship. The chaos in Haitian politics has always been the exact result of either the government’s abuse of power or people misusing democracy to respond to their aspirations, to their choices and needs. This time, the electoral process was well organized, and the voting went smoothly under the watchful eyes of the international observers. The government made certain that the election was transparent, and it delivered that in a way that arouses commendations from conscious Haitian citizens and foreign leaders like President Obama and others. It wasn’t until the election projection showing the likely winner that supporters of losing candidates start manifesting their disapproval of the election result.
The presidential election was, so to speak, a referendum on the government of President Martelly for his support of Moise. Moise was the front runner, and Celestin came in second place, the two finalists for December 27 runoff election. The political opponents of President Martelly assume that the government was helping Moise to win. What they fail to understand is that Moise is someone who is good for Haiti. He paved the way to his electability to the presidency of Haiti because he is the people's person and the people's choice.
As a successful entrepreneur and an Agro-engineer who owns several businesses and vast fields of plantains, he creates jobs for thousands of Haitians. There is a well orchestrated campaign against him, not because he is a bad person, but because of his ties to the current government. Now the question is what if Moise fairly wins the second round of election scheduled for December 27? How will people react to his victory? Would the electoral committee give in to people’s pressure and depart from the normal course of democracy to hand over the victory out of fear to Celestin? However, if Celestin becomes the winner, everyone needs to accept him as our president-elect. I hope democracy takes its course regardless of which candidate wins.
Despite protests against President Martelly regarding the election, he remains the pragmatic and the charismatic leader of Haiti. He breaks new grounds by upholding democratic principles and in the respect of human rights. Unlike previous presidents, he does not have henchmen committing political killings on his behalf. He is credited for several accomplishments: the paving of infrastructure of major arteries of highways in the country; the decongestion of governmental institutions from Port-Au-Prince with branches serving all geographic corners; the creation of new schools in cities and rural areas across the country; making changes in the air transport system where American Airlines flies directly from Miami to the second largest city of Cap-Haitien to the north; and plans are being made for international flights to the south of the country as well.
As far as I can remember, no other leaders of Haiti have ever done as much as President Martelly has. It’s fair to put politics aside to give credit to whoever deserves it. Under his administration, even though the rate of crimes, kidnapping and violence has diminished, he still needs to do more in those areas of concerns. One must keep in mind that Haiti remains thus far a violent country. With the appointment of a well-known prime minister, Evans Paul (ka plim), Martelly’s government has reached a new level of stability in terms of people’s confidence and approval. In my opinion, history will not judge President Martelly. If it is the case, his legacy will speak for itself. But I believe history will rather honor him as one who at least strives and thrives under difficult circumstances.
As the electoral committee is using all the necessary mechanisms toward the second round of election, the political parties and their supporters must understand the democratic principles that rule elections. Haiti’s elections are always caught up in uncertainty and violence. This time, whether the winner is Celestin or Moise (nicknamed Neg Bannan Nan, meaning the person who grows plantains), the country must be ready to accept whatever the outcome of the election is. Too often, Haiti’s political affairs resemble so much like those of a renegade piece of land that broke away from Africa and that mysteriously slid into the Caribbean. What Haiti has in common with Africa is not only a matter of race, but one of greed of power from the leaders or a culture of political clanship and violence by supporters of different candidates in times of elections. The US military were present during the first round of voting; I hope they return for the second round to guarantee transparency and peace.
Whatever the political situation looks like during the upcoming presidential election, it is better than what Haiti has had in the past. It will probably take some time before the real democracy of the developed world takes hold in Haiti. People need time to slowly sip it as the old mindset like a tide is ebbing away. All they have to do is to go out and vote and to be united for a peaceful runoff election that will lead to a peaceful transition of presidential power in May 2016. God bless Haiti!
