Born: 3 November, 1940.
Location: Miragoí¢ne, Haiti.
Education: Obtained a degree in history from France's Sorbonne University and a degree in International Relations from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Manigat also obtained a PhD in Political Science from the Sorbonne University in 1968. She was a researcher at the Centre d'Etudes des Relations Internationales in Paris. Later she taught at the Institute of International relations at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and at the Universidad Simón Bolivar in Caracas.
Public Life: Upon her return to Haiti in 1986 with her husband, Leslie Manigat, founder of the RDNP, Mirlande, who was also a founding member of the party, became heavily involved in local politics. She was elected senator the same year as her husband won the presidency in 1988. However, she stepped down and left the country with her husband after he was overthrown five months later. In 2006 she ran again for a senate seat as her husband tried to regain the presidency, but dropped out in the second round over allegations of vote-tampering. This was not so much in relation to the senate race but to the presidential race which her husband lost. During her time in Haiti, Mirlande has concentrated on constitutional law and has become an expert authoring various books on the subject. Currently she serves as vice-rector of Research and International Cooperation at Quisqueya University.
Timeline: 1970: Marries Leslie Manigat in Paris where he was living in self-imposed exile. Leslie, formerly a member of president François Duvalier's (1957-1971) cabinet, was accused of instigating student protests and was imprisoned for two months in 1963; he left the country upon his release.
1970-1974: Laboratory assistant at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. 1974: Leaves France with her husband, first for Trinidad and later for Venezuela. 1974-1978: Professor at the Institute of International Relations at the University of West Indies. 1978-1986: Lecturer on the political science postgraduate course at Universidad Simón Bolivar. 1979: Along with husband, founds the RDNP opposition movement in exile in Venezuela. 1986: Returns to Haiti with her husband after the fall of the Duvalier dynasty. 1988: Elected senator for the department de l'Ouest (Haiti's first ever female senator) and simultaneously becomes first lady as her husband Leslie Manigat wins the presidency. However, Leslie is overthrown by the military only five months after taking office and again decides to go into exile with his family. 1990: The Manigats return to Haiti before the presidential elections won by Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996, 2001-2004). 2006: Ran for a senate seat, but dropped out in the second round over allegations of vote-tampering. Her husband also lost in the presidential race and retired from politics a year later. 2007: Succeeds her husband as the RDNP leader at the VIII party convention in August. Leslie had been in charge for 27 years. 2009: Presented as presidential candidate at a RNDP rally. 2010: In the run-up to the November elections all the polls put Manigat in the lead. This was confirmed in the first round, where she received the most votes, though not enough to declare an outright victory.
The election was marred by controversy. Manigat initially dismissed the results as fraudulent and called for the election to be cancelled. She later reconsidered her position and decided to call for a recount instead. However, she rejects the electoral provisional council (CEP)'s proposed partial recount.
Strengths: Compared to Célestin and Martelly, who has billed himself as an alternative to the political elite and lacks experience, Manigat is a much more experienced politician. Célestin is a relative newcomer to politics, having previously been appointed by President Préval as director general of the state construction company, Centre national des équipements (CNE). Manigat has also proven that she is popular enough to win elections. She has been a well known opposition figure for 25 years. She is well received by the public and also the international community, as a well known academic who has lived and taught abroad. She has been endorsed by the Collectif pour le Renouveau Haitien (COREH), an influential political group comprised mostly of former parliamentary members. According to COREH, Manigat meets the criteria of morality, experience and competence to negotiate with the international community. Perhaps most importantly, Manigat represents political change, whereas Célestin is largely associated with political continuity and the unpopular mandate of President Préval, whose approval ratings have plummeted over his response to the 12 January earthquake and the current cholera epidemic. Weaknesses: Her age - Manigat is the oldest candidate in the presidential race. Critics warn that she may not be up to the challenge of tackling the enormous challenges ahead given the devastation wreaked by the earthquake. In contrast, Célestin is a young mechanical engineer with experience of working on Haiti's reconstruction efforts after the quake. Moreover, the fact that her political career has been so intrinsically linked to her husband's (she has never held office without him), has led some to question her political mettle, even though she remained the RNDP's secretary general. Bizarrely, she has also been accused by the leader of the Organisation de Peuple en Lutte (OPL, Lavalas OP), Paul Raymond, of receiving US$8m for her campaign fund from President Préval.
Prospects: Considerable uncertainty surrounds the outcome of the elections. Currently Manigat and Martelly both reject the CEP proposal to recount the votes of the three main presidential candidates in the presence of national and international observers. As regards her platform, like Célestin she considers education a priority for Haiti's future. However, while Célestin has pledged to provide the country with technical schools and create jobs to be filled by their graduates, Manigat has focused on calling for a nationwide literacy programme and to provide free primary school education. She has also declared herself in favour of lifting constitutional restrictions on dual nationality in order to allow the Haitian diaspora to return and serve their country and has criticised the country's image as an 'NGO Republic'. It is clear that Manigat is more concerned with appealing to the grassroots. Célestin's technocrat credentials appear calculated to appeal to the more influential political class.
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