JISTIS with candidates, Newton Saint Juste and Michel Andre

Primary system in an election first began in the early twentieth century. It is a process whereby the voters determine who would be chosen as their candidate instead of the long-standing tradition of party bosses choosing who would run for office. The primary elections serve as the preliminary step or a preliminary election in which voters nominate party candidates to represent an office... and this is going to happen for the first time in Haitian history.

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Most political parties, excepting few like Fanmi Lavalas, are preparing themselves for this first step of democracy, but things are nowhere more intriguing than in the JISTIS political party. The two prime candidates from the JISTIS are Newton Saint Juste (aged 39) and Michel Andre (aged 38); both of them are running for the country's highest office. Their ages have some significance. The most others candidates, running from different political parties, are, at least more than a decade older, in their 50s, 60s or 70s, than the two JISTIS candidates. Haiti is a country where more than half of the population is aged under 25. It would be no wonder if the winner of JISTIS receives major support from the youth base. In their early twenties, Saint Juste was a lawyer for former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide while Michel Andre was a lawyer for his opponents. But they fought side by side against President Martelly's plan to install dictatorship and they accused the government of corruption and involvement in drug dealing which involved both the wife and the son of the President. In October 2013, Andre was detained after launching corruption charges against the family of Martelly. These two young representatives of JISTIS came to the news again in last December when they were attacked inside of a Radio station while they were participating in a radio show.

The leaders of the Popular Patriotic Dessalinien Movement (MOPOD) are in the final stage to announce their list of representatives which includes the former First Lady, Mirlande Manigat, former presidential candidate and Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis and former Senator Samuel Madistin.

The Organization of Struggling People (OPL) has reserved the month of April to decide their primary election. Their 52 The Diaspora delegates from Florida have cast their votes as coordinator and Sauveur Pierre Etienne has managed a lead of 75%. The Fusion of Social Democrats would be represented by the former Senator Edmonde Supplice Beauzile alone, but Beauzile is expecting a challenger before the final announcement of the primary candidates.

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