PORT-AU-PRINCE.— Haitian President Michel Martelly, left office February 8, having completed his term which began in 2011, with no elected successor.
Ongoing violent protests have twice prevented the holding of a second round vote in the country’s Presidential elections.
During his last appearance before the National Congress, Martelly said, “Today, is a difficult day, but we must come together to face the difficulties. We are a brave people, a people with honor, and a history important to the world.”
He called on the nation to abandon the path of violence, which he said leads nowhere, to seek a better future.
“In the end, when negotiations take place, what one wants is not always achieved, but we have been obliged to make sacrifices to extricate the country from this situation,” Martelly continued.
The former President said that, since the earthquake of January 2010, he has wanted to serve his country, adding, “Five years later, I am ready to appear before the court of history.”
On February 6, Martelly signed a political agreement with opposition representatives in the Senate and House of Deputies to create a transition government, with a term of 210 days, which must organize elections by April 24.
According to Prensa Latina, the document stipulates that the National Assembly will designate a President within a few days, and those willing to assume the responsibility must nominate themselves.
For his part, Cholzer Chanzy, president of the House of Deputies, said that with the signing of the agreement, a power vacuum was avoided, while United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the accord, and called on all parties to support its implementation, “to ensure the democratic transfer of power to elected officials,” in a statement released by his spokesperson.
The communiqué noted, “The agreement reached provides for immediate arrangements to preserve the institutional continuity of the country, as well as a roadmap for the swift conclusion of the ongoing electoral cycle.”
Within this context, the opposition, grouped in a formation known as the “G-8,” indicated in a statement that the principal task of the transitional government is to guarantee peace and promote a climate of confidence in the second round of elections.
The group also demanded the creation of a commission to investigate alleged irregularities in the first round, held October 25, 2015.
Michel Martelly assumed the Presidency in Haiti, in 2011, since its first days his administration has faced challenges in one of the world’s poorest countries. In 2015, opposition forces organized numerous protests calling for his resignation.
This past October, local elections and the second round of legislative elections were held, as well as the first Presidential round, with 58 candidates running - from an original list of 70. Some 900,000 delegates to political party boards were registered.
On this occasion, only 25% of the 5.8 million eligible Haitians exercised their right to vote, and the announced winners were the governing party’s Jovenel Moise, with 32%, and Jude Celestin, with 25%. The two candidates were to face off in the second round, which has been postponed on two occasions.
There were, however, allegations of fraud, and an Independent Vote Verification Commission was created to establish the veracity of election results before December 27, when the second round was originally scheduled.
After the creation of this commission, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced the suspension of the December vote, and failed to set a date for the second round.
The commission’s investigation had revealed irregularities, but Martelly announced that the second round vote would take place January 17. Nevertheless, the CEP rejected the date, insisting that organizing the electoral process was impossible.
For his part, Celestin denounced what he called an “electoral coup d’etat” by Martelly, and said he would not participate in the election.
The country’s laws state that if a candidate chooses not to participate in a second round election, he or she is replaced by the candidate who received the next greatest vote in the first round - in this case Moise Jean Charles, who also refused.
Amidst these events, the Prime Minister and members of the Electoral Council also resigned.
