Haiti’s president knows he has a problem: Governing a country
that at times seems to verge on the ungovernable is hard enough when you have a
lot of support.
اضافة اعلان
Jovenel Moïse clearly does not.
In a recent interview, the Haitian leader lamented that he has
the confidence of only a small sliver of his people.
He won the 2016 elections with just under 600,000 votes in a
country of 11 million. And now many are angry over his refusal to leave office
in February, amid a dispute over whether his term ended then or should extend
for one more year.
Yet Moïse, 52, has chosen this moment to embark on the biggest
shake-up Haiti’s politics has seen in decades, overseeing the drafting of a new
constitution that will restructure government and give the presidency greater
powers.
The need for a new constitution is a rare point of agreement
between Moïse and his many detractors. What concerns some observers is the
president’s unilateral approach to writing one. Others just don’t trust him.
Moïse, critics charge, has become increasingly autocratic and is
relying on a small circle of confidants to write a document that, among other
changes, will give the president greater power over the armed forces as well as
the ability to run for two consecutive terms. It would also grant Haiti’s
leader immunity for any actions taken in office.
Moïse said the broader powers are necessary.
“We need a system that works,” he said in the telephone
interview. “The system now doesn’t work. The president cannot work to deliver.”
Haiti won its independence in 1804, after Haitians rose up
against colonial France, but it was not until 1990 that it had its first
election widely regarded as free and fair. Even then, in a country with a long
history of dictatorships and coups, democracy has never fully taken root.
Many Haitians say a new constitution is needed. The current one
has created two competing power centers in the country — the president and
prime minister — which often leads to friction and a fractured government.
The draft constitution would abolish the Senate, leaving in
place a single legislative body elected every five years, and replace the post
of prime minister with a vice president that answers to the president, in a bid
to streamline government.
Haitians will vote on the new constitution in June, before
national elections slated for September.
But some take little reassurance from the ballot casting ahead.
“People need to realize that elections are not inherently
equivalent to democracy,” said Jake Johnston, a research associate for the
Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.
Every time there is a political crisis in Haiti, he said, the
international community tends to call for elections. That leaves the country
limping from one paralyzed government to another, instead of trying to reform
the electoral process and work to engage voter participation.
“When an election actually ceases to represent the will of the
people, what kind of government do they expect that to produce?” Johnston
asked.
Since 1986, after nearly 30 years of dictatorship, voter turnout
has steadily declined in Haiti. Only 18 percent of all eligible Haitians
participated in the 2016 election that brought Moïse to power.
Now, the country’s deep economic and social morass may only
encourage more Haitians to stay at home when it is time to vote on the new
constitution and then for a new president.
Unemployment is rampant and desperation is at an all-time high.
Many Haitians are unable to step onto the street to run basic errands without
worrying about being kidnapped for ransom.
Moïse says he, too, is concerned about voter participation.
“There is a silent majority,” he said. “Many Haitians don’t want
to participate in something they think will be violent. We need peace and
stability to encourage people to vote.”
As the June referendum on the constitution approaches, the
government is trying to register 5 million voters, Moïse said. His goal, he
said, is to inject the process with more legitimacy than his presidency had.
According to the United Nations, there are at least 6.7 million
potential voters in Haiti. Others say that number is an undercount, since many
Haitians are undocumented, their births never registered with the government.
In an effort to placate critics, and ease concerns that he is
positioning himself to benefit from the new constitution, Moïse has promised
not to run in the next election.
But to fix the country before he steps down, he says, he needs
to accumulate enough power to take on an oligarchy he says has paralyzed Haiti
to profit off a government too weak to regulate or tax their businesses.
“We are suffering today from state capture — it is the biggest
problem we face today,” Moïse said.
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