Well hooray for Haiti, President Preval and the international community on this one!
Apparently, the much contested candidate for the run-off presidential elections in Haiti
has announced that he's stepping out of the race. That opens the door for a run off for
the two candidates deemed most legitimate for that process by the majority of the
population and by the international community. That's a good thing for the democratic
process in that still fledgling democracy. Democracy in that country didn't really start
until the 1991 election of Jean Betrand Aristide and has had a rocky path ever since.
The overthrow of the first Aristide administration by the military, backed by many of the
affluent people in the Caribbean island nation, was followed by a couple years of rule by
military junta, US President Clinton's intervention in Haitian affairs in returning
President Aristide to office in 1994 during Operation Restore Democracy after the signing
of the Governor's Island Accords, the first peaceful transition of power in about 183
years of that nation's independence when President Preval was elected to his first term in
office. There was a second peaceful transition in power, when President Preval turned
over the reins to President Aristide's second administration. But that one too, was
marred by Coup D'Tat when former Haitian Army members, and others, overthrew that
constitutionally, though arguably flawed, elected government through force of arms in
2004. I'm still bewildered that they let the former Haitian Army Colonel that was widely
seen as the leader of that rebellion run for the office of the president of that country
while President Aristide's former Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune was arrested and
incarcerated. As a former US Army Criminal Investigator, I'd say that if former Prime
Minister Neptune deserved that fate, well ok. But I'm back to the fact that one of the
basic tenets for a democracy to be successful is that the rule of law must be respected
and applied evenly. I'm not sure that former Prime Minister Neptune was afforded the
benefits of due process of law while I am sure that the Colonel was benefited from
impunity for his actions. Therefore the due process of law was certainly NOT followed in
these cases. Perhaps it was the fact that the Colonel still had his armed band of fellow
rebels at hand and Prime Minister Neptune was a easier target with less ability to fight
back that was the overarching principle on that one. Anyway, the coup was followed by an
interim government that I'm not sure met the criteria for that kind of thing established
in the Haitian constitution but it was peaceful and there was a peaceful transition of
power from that interim government when President Preval was elected again and assumed his
second tour in office.
There has been some speculation on the street that President Preval would not support
removing his party's candidate from the run-off, declare a state of emergency and attempt
to stay in office a bit longer. It seems that he did not take that track and bravo for
him! Though he will stay in office until the runoff election is completed - which
actually extends his term of office. There are provisions in the Haitian constitution,
just like is in ours, that allows for an President to serve more than two full terms as
President in terms of the amount of time one can spend in office.
So here's hoping that this still fledgling democracy is taking off and that the democratic
process is beginning to take hold and get its feet a bit more firmly planted on the ground
there. For more on this story read an article that was referenced by today's US State
Department Overseas Advisory Committee in their daily newsletter:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_election
The situation does still have the potential to remain volatile and there is potential for
the political situation to get even more cloudy than it already is. Baby Doc is still in
country and is free, not under house arrest, but is undergoing a judicial review.
President Aristide may be issued a Diplomatic Passport by the Government of Haiti and
there is potential for him to come back. He remains wildly popular in certain sectors of
the population and his political party still exists, though Haiti's Election Commission
denied them the ability to register candidates for this last Presidential election. If he
comes back, his mere presence may fracture the political landscape a bit more.
So I go back to my main word when looking at the various issues surrounding Haiti since I
first got involved in working in that country in 1994: It sure is an interesting place to
watch...
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