Robert Buddan
HAITI'S RETURN to democracy was planned around presidential and legislative elections in October 2005 and the swearing-in of a new government on February 7, 2006. These plans are going badly. The interim government has postponed these elections three times. They are now expected in mid or late December. The postponements reflect a number of complaints raised about Haiti's preparations, especially the role of the interim Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue.
Canada and CARICOM must now be wondering what kind of elections and government will come out of Haiti eventually. These countries have been most active in democracy building since Aristide was forced out of power. In September, Canada's Prime Minister, Paul Martin, asked CARICOM to engage more directly with Haiti. CARICOM holds to its position that Haiti must first have democratic elections. Canada is funding the elections with C$63 million. Jamaica is assisting through the services of Danville Walker and the Electoral Office of Jamaica.
ELECTION ISSUES
Condoleezza Rice said Haitian elections must be open, fair and inclusive, as the international community wants. Yet, the Lavalas party of Jean Bertrand Aristide, the most popular party in Haiti, is denied a presidential candidate. Its leader Aristide is in exile and its candidate, Father Gerard Jean-Juste is in jail.
Haiti's electoral law requires candidates to register in person. But the interim regime has imprisoned Jean-Juste without charge, causing Amnesty International to declare him a political prisoner. An alternative candidate, Gerard Gilles, was also rejected by the election council on spurious grounds. The deadline for registering candidates has now passed.
Many voters are also unregistered. Three million voters have been registered but one and a half million are still off the rolls. Voter registration has closed. Many of those registered are not likely to vote since Lavalas presidential candidates have been barred. They neither trust the interim government nor the electoral council. They are confused by the 24 nondescript political parties, 34 presidential candidates, and over 1,000 legislative candidates who all lack national popularity. Probably only one third of the electorate will vote, if as many.
The electoral administration, charged with incompetence and politicization, is still to identify all of the polling locations and hire the thousands of election- day workers needed. The security environment remains poor. Voter identification cards are still to be distributed and ballots have not yet been prepared. Preparations for December elections are therefore far from satisfactory. To complicate matters, the United Nations says some of the candidates have a criminal past or criminal links to gangs. Since many candidates are campaigning for money among Haitians in South Florida, concerns exist that criminal funds will easily enter the campaign. Indeed, while a priest has been imprisoned without charge and barred from running, a notorious figure like Guy Phillipe, leader of criminal gangs that rebelled against Aristide, is an approved presidential candidate.
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
When Aristide was overthrown, George Bush declared that the Haitian constitution (of 1987) was still in force. In truth, it has been violated. The constitution requires that new elections be held within 90 days should a president leave office before his term ends. This was not honoured. The provisional Prime Minister has regularly exceeded the powers permitted him. The interim government has interfered with the organisation of elections. The schedule for new elections has not been met. The Provisional Electoral Council has fallen far below the standard which the law requires.
Take this example. The electoral council first approved the presidential candidacy of Dumarsais Simeus then announced he would be barred because he held dual citizenship, Haitian and American. Simeus appealed to the Supreme Court and the Court reinstated his eligibility ruling stating that he had not renounced his Haitian citizenship and that was what mattered. The interim government subsequently established a commission of its own with the final say about who qualifies under the law of citizenship. The role of the Supreme Court will now be side-stepped.
Looking ahead, the constitution requires that a new government be sworn in on February 7, 2006. The new election schedule must therefore be honoured because only a new legislature can approve an extension of the deadline for swearing in a new president. Failing this, of course, the interim government can do what it has been doing all along - ignore the constitution. It would have to if it will continue its own life beyond February 2006 because the constitution limits its term to that time.
CARICOM AND CANADA
Many international observers do not believe that properly run elections can be held by December. The priority, some say, should be to have elections that can produce a legitimate government. They want elections to be postponed until such elections can be guaranteed. The U.S. and the UN say that Haiti must hold elections in December.
This poses a dilemma for CARICOM. Could it recognise an election for which one-third of the electorate was not registered; and could it recognise a government formed from an election that excluded the candidates of the most popular party, a party that was forcibly removed from power in the first place? At the same time, can CARICOM continue to distance itself from the Haitian people until such indeterminate time that it is satisfied with elections and the credibility of Haiti's future government?
Jamaica more than any other member of CARICOM has a vested interest in stabilising Haiti. Haiti is a failed state and some warn that if its situation is not brought under control it could collapse into a permanent criminal state. UN forces have failed to disarm gangs and restore order. Thousands of small arms circulate amongst innumerable gangs. Haiti is a major drug trafficking territory. Refugees and HIV/AIDS pose a threat to Jamaica. Considering Jamaica's fragile security and close proximity, it cannot tolerate a criminal state next door.
Jamaica will have to consider a different approach. It must invite CARICOM and Canada to join a CARICOM-Canada Commission on Haiti aimed at democratic reconstruction of the society. Canada can continue to engage with the interim government and any government that follows. CARICOM must position itself to engage with the Haitian people. Frankly, Jamaican industry will benefit if it can provide the variety of supplies that Haiti's reconstruction demands. Canada is a major donor country and can be asked to purchase Jamaican and Canadian products needed in Haiti.
Canada is also organising the Haitian Diaspora. Jamaica has experience with its own Diaspora and could share this experience. A Commission organised into committees for security, governance, justice, the environment, natural disaster, refugees, health, and small business, would then mobilise the international community to assist in these areas.
CARICOM does not have to readmit Haiti or recognise a new government if Haiti fails to meet democratic standards. CARICOM should also insist that Canada come clean on its role in Aristide's overthrow. Canada must be less permissive towards Haiti and reign in the dangerous Latortue regime. It must clear its image as an accomplice. CARICOM must continue to insist on a democratic Haiti but there must be a vision that puts the Haitian people at the centre of the solution to the 200 year Haitian crisis.
You can send your comments to Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or infocus@gleanerjm.com
