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

It is looking increasingly unlikely that the presidential and partial legislative election run-offs, suspended last year, will take place on 24 April. This was the date set by the 5 February accord inked by former president Michel Martelly (2011-2016) and the heads of congress ahead of Martelly’s departure on 7 February [RC-16-02]. There has been progress since Jocelerme Privert took up the interim presidency on 14 February for a 120-day term: Enex Jean-Charles was installed as prime minister on 28 March and the new nine-member provisional electoral court (CEP), two days later. Yet, the new CEP head, Léopold Berlanger, suggested that the run-offs were unlikely to take place on 24 April. A major bone of contention which will impact the date is whether to set up a verification commission to address the fraud allegations marring the presidential first round (which produced a run-off between Jovenel Moïse of Martelly’s Parti Haïtien Têt Kalé [PHTK] party and Jude Célestin of the opposition Ligue Alternative Pour le Progrés et l’Emancipation Haïtienne [Lapeh] party).

Jean-Charles’ installation followed the bicameral legislature’s approval of his government programme and cabinet in the early hours of 25 March. A secretary general of the council of ministers under former PM Evans Paul (2015-2016), Jean-Charles had previously served as an advisor to Martelly and figures such as former interim president Boniface Alexandre (2004-2006). He was undoubtedly more of a concession to the political opposition than Privert’s initial choice of PM, former central bank governor Fritz-Alphonse Jean [RC-16-03] who was rejected by the legislature five days earlier. Like Privert, Jean was reportedly an ally of former president René Préval (1996-2001, 2006-2011).

While the installation of the CEP was also hailed as a step forward (see sidebar), the question of who should participate in the presidential run-off persists. A report by the official commission (CEEI) tasked with evaluating the first round – which on official results gave Moïse 32.76% of the vote and 25.29% to Célestin – was clear that the first round was “stained with irregularities” that benefitted “some of the candidates” (although no details were supplied). The CEEI, which verified 1,771 tally sheets selected at random, found that 92% of them contained “serious irregularities”.

The PHTK is resolutely opposed to a verification commission being set up - which Privert is pushing for. The international community also initially appeared to oppose the move. In remarks made to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on 17 March, US Ambassador David Pressman, the alternate representative to the UN for special political affairs, said that “neither we nor international observation missions sent by the European Union and the Organization of American States [OAS] found proof of massive and widespread fraud” in the presidential vote.

However, the tide could be turning. On 8 April, the Miami Herald published an interview with Antigua & Barbuda diplomat Ronald Sanders, the former chair of the OAS Permanent Council, who led an OAS-mission to Haiti in February that looked at the electoral crisis. While stressing that he was not speaking on behalf of the OAS, Sanders was clear that a verification commission was necessary. He said that “If we go ahead and force Privert to hold elections without it, an election that is not ultimately acceptable to the majority of Haitians, we are courting trouble”. Two days later, OAS secretary general Luis Almagro, said that “we should give Haitians the time to organise elections in the best way possible” – signifying a change from calls by the US government, for example on 29 March, for a “new democratically-elected president [to be] seated - as quickly as possible”.

• New CEP

Each proposed by a different sector, the new members of Haiti’s provisional electoral council (CEP) are as follows: Josette Dorcély (proposed by the local trade unions), Marie Hérolle Michel (the private sector), Marie Frantz Joachim (women’s sector), Carlos Hercule (Catholic episcopal conference), Frinel Joseph (protestant religion sector), Kenson Polynice (voodoo/peasant), Léopold Berlanger (media), Lucien Jean Bernard (universities), and Jean Simon Saint-Hubert (human rights).