Caribbean & Central America - March 2016 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Since Michel Martelly stepped down as president last month, in the absence of a successor following the cancellation of the 24 January presidential run-off [RC-16-02], efforts have been under way to put in place an interim government, whose key task will be to oversee the staging of the election. On 14 February, Jocelerme Privert left the post of senate president to take up the interim presidency of the country for a 120-day term following his election by the legislature. Twelve days later, he named Fritz-Alphonse Jean, a former head of Haiti’s central bank (BRH) (1998-2001) as interim prime minister. The appointment of Jean in particular - who has yet to appoint a cabinet - remains controversial and has been rejected by Martelly’s Parti Haïtien Têt Kalé (PHTK). This raises questions as to how far Privert will make good on his pledge to engage in dialogue with all sectors and hold the election by the 24 April deadline as per the deal to set up the transition government signed by Martelly, Privert and the head of the lower chamber, Cholzer Chancy, before Martelly’s departure from office.

Privert is a former head of the tax authority (1995-2001) and was interior minister (2002-2004) under populist former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991; 1994-1996; 2001-2004). He was elected to the senate in 2010 for Inité, the former party of ex-president René Préval (1996-2001, 2006-2011), and is now reportedly aligned with Préval’s new party, Plateforme Vérité. He was named interim president after defeating his main rival, Edgard Fils Leblanc (Organisation du Peuple en Lutte, OPL), a former senate president (1996-2000) who received the backing of the PHTK, in a two-round battle in the legislature.

Welcomed by supporters of Aristide, who has remained popular locally since his return to Haiti in 2011, Privert’s election was also hailed by the international community. In a 15 February statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon declared it a “crucial first step”. However, the process was not without controversy. As well as raising doubts over Privert’s candidacy given his involvement in the negotiations over the interim president, the political opposition also challenged the role of the new legislature in the process. Specifically, the opposition pointed to the fact that the 14 new senators (out of the 30-member senate, with six posts yet to be filled) and 92 new deputies (out of the 118-member lower chamber with contests pending for the rest) had all been elected in the same (allegedly flawed) October 2015 contest for the presidential first round which produced the run-off between the PHTK’s Jovenel Moïse and Jude Célestin (Ligue Alternative Pour le Progrés et l’Emancipation Haïtienne, Lapeh). Célestin’s refusal to participate in the run-off - citing the widespread fraud allegations – was undoubtedly a factor in the provisional electoral council (CEP)’s decision to cancel it.

Another controversial appointment

As well as Privert, the other crucial appointment is that of Jean, who was appointed by presidential decree on 26 February after the interim president held a consultation process with a range of sectors. Proposed by civil society and human rights groups, Jean’s appointment was rejected three days later by PHTK spokesperson Guichard Doré who complained that it was not legitimate and was in breach of the accord signed by Martelly, Privert and Chancy ahead of Martelly’s departure from office. Doré told reporters that as per the agreement, prior to appointing a new prime minister, the interim president had to secure approval for his selection from the national congress, a requirement that he claimed Privert did not meet. This opposition to Jean, which has been echoed by Chancy (a member of Ayiti An Aksyon, a Martelly-allied party), as well as outgoing prime minister Evans Paul, another Martelly ally, raises major questions over the future of the new interim prime minister who must still appear before parliament in order to secure a vote of confidence on his political programme.

• Food security concerns

On 9 February, the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) issued a warning regarding increased food insecurity due to a current drought (Haiti’s third consecutive year), which has been exacerbated by the ‘El Niño’ weather phenomenon. In its warning, the WFP reported that 3.6m Haitians are facing food insecurity after the main harvests in 2015 fell below average, with losses of up to 70% in some areas. The WFP notes that this is worrying given that agriculture employs half of the working population in Haiti, and 75% of people live on less than US$2 per day. According to the WFP, in some areas of the country up to 70% of the population is facing hunger.