Caribbean & Central America - January 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Two last minute deals announced by Haiti’s President Michel Martelly ultimately did not avert the looming political crisis stemming from the failure to hold long overdue legislative and municipal elections. On 12 January the terms of all 99 national deputies and a third of the 30-seat senate (ten seats of which were already vacant) expired, rendering the legislature inoperative. This means that, as per the 1987 constitution, President Martelly can rule by decree. There had been signs of progress regarding the implementation of recommendations made by a presidential advisory committee set up in November 2014 which was tasked with finding a way out of the domestic political crisis – not least the resignations of Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and the entire nine-member provisional electoral council (CEP) in December 2014. However, the power vacuum at the top, paralysis of the legislature and lack of any electoral authorities in place suggests that the crisis is only set to intensify.

Assurances made on 13 January by President Martelly that his intention is not to rule by decree and that the “one decree that I will issue is to declare elections, which are absolutely necessary” are unlikely to convince the political opposition (which had controlled the legislature). The opposition had blocked the approval of the electoral legislation necessary to hold the elections citing concerns that the CEP set up by the President in May 2014 was unconstitutional [RC-14-11]. Indeed in the past, figures like Senator Steven Benoit of the opposition party Altenativ had accused Martelly of deliberately stalling efforts to hold the vote in order to consolidate himself in power [RC-14-11].

There had been hopes that the crisis could be averted after some of the recommendations made by the advisory commission (which included well-known public figures from the Catholic Church, the private sector, political parties, and trade union sectors) were taken on board. On 14 December 2014 Lamothe, who was unpopular with the legislature in which Martelly’s Repons Peyizan had just three (lower chamber) seats, announced that he was stepping down. Four days later the entire CEP announced it was following suit while the head of Haiti’s supreme court (CSPJ), Arnel Alexis Joseph, indicated in the New Year that he will quit (another recommendation of the committee).

These hopes of an end to the crisis were further boosted after the three branches of government reached a deal on 29 December 2014 to extend legislators’ terms and approve a new electoral law. Then on 11 January President Martelly announced another agreement. However, this optimism ultimately proved premature. Arguably President Martelly – who it is worth underlining has the full backing of key international actors like the United Nations (UN) and US (see sidebar) - already raised questions over his commitment to compromise by nominating Evans Paul as Lamothe’s replacement on 25 December 2014. A member of the opposition Konvansyon Inite Demokratik (KID) and a former mayor of Port-au-Prince (1990-1995), Paul was a controversial choice not least due to the fact that he was on the presidential advisory committee. It consequently came as little surprise that the legislature refused to ratify him (a constitutional requirement) on its one attempt on 4 January.

With opposition figures like André Michel, a legal advisor to the opposition group Mouvement Patriotique de l'Opposition Démocratique (Mopod), calling for “civil disobedience” and threatening further protests demanding Martelly’s resignation and no CEP in place even if President Martelly does make good his promise to decree elections this year, the political crisis is only bound to intensify.

• International backing

On 13 January Sandra Honoré, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Haiti, and other members of the international community known as the ‘Core Group’ (comprising the ambassadors of Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, the US and the European Union; and the Special Representative of the Organization of American States) issued a statement expressing support for President Martelly in “the exercise of his constitutional duty to ensure the regular functioning of institutions”. Two days earlier the US embassy in Port-au-Prince released a statement underlining that “If such a solution cannot be reached by January 12, the U.S. will continue to work with President Martelly and whatever legitimate Haitian government institutions remain to safeguard the significant gains we have achieved together since the January 12, 2010 earthquake”.