NOREF - Haiti: the challenge of ending the transition to democracy

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Authors

Eduardo Colindres

is an expert on political parties, government administration and adult education, and he has extensive experience in implementing programmes in conflict-prone political environments. Since 2003, he has been a senior programme manager for the National Democratic Institute’s political party strengt...
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Tone Faret

is a senior advisor with the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre. Before joining Noref, she worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, and for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based in Haiti. She...
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Haiti: the challenge of ending the transition to democracy

Eduardo Colindres , Tone Faret , 16 December 2009

Executive Summary

The political scene in Haiti will be dominated by elections in 2010. The challenge is significant for the international community, which plays a prominent role and has a notable presence in the country, and for national actors, especially the much disputed Provisional Election Council (CEP).

President Préval has officially launched the new movement – Unité – which is largely built on his old electoral platform, Lespwa (Hope). He is in the process of consolidating support prior to the next elections, although he maintains that he will not be a candidate for the presidency, after having served two terms. Opposition forces have voiced frustration over what they see as increased political power in the hands of the president, especially after Aristide’s political party, Fanmi Lavalas, was excluded from the elections for the second time, together with 16 other political parties and movements.

Violence and electoral fraud has been a constant feature of politics in Haiti since a democratic system was introduced some twenty years ago. The danger exists that the upcoming legislative elections, while in theory respecting democratic formalities, will enable the power-holding elites to establish a non-democratic government under an apparent democracy. And this may happen in the presence, and with the active participation, of the international community.

The opposition political parties and their leaders are confronted by a major challenge because, this time around, they must prove that they have the capacity, beyond their personal interests, to reach agreements and build alliances that can present real alternatives to the Haitian people.