Haiti Politics - Haiti Observer Blog

VERITE political party has made the hard decision not to press forward for the second round of voting on October 25th. During the first round of voting back in August it was the victim of purposeful and vicious attacks at its polling stations throughout Haiti. No one knows if VERITE's bowing out of the election will bring more violence during the second round. The pull-out, some believe, will destabilize the island.

VERITE is an intimidating political force to Tet Kale, President Martelly's party. And it is suspected Tet Kale may have been behind the violence on Election Day. VERITE has also sustained a blow regarding its participation in the presidential elections. The corrupt Provisional Electoral Council ignored a Court of Auditors ruling, which said VERITE's candidate for president, Jacky Lumarque, did not need a discharge certificate, because he never handled any public funds as a government official. Front runner, Lumarque, also poses a threat to Tet Kale's candidate, Jovenel Moise. So the PEC has decided, in defiance of the high court ruling, to keep Lumarque from running.

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Did you believe that Don Kato would not take advantage of his public conflict with the Martelly government for not allowing him to take part of several Carnivals in the past, you were wrong. Did you believe that Fanmi Lavalas would be the political party he would likely run under, once again you were wrong.

Brothers Posse lead singer Antonio "Don Kato" Cheramy finally made it official. He registered his candidacy for Senator of the West Department under the Verite banner, a party created by former President Rene Preval

Now, I am totally confused. Some peoplle have been saying that the Verite party of Rene Preval is working closely with Michel Martelly. If this is the case, what is Don Kato doing there?

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It seems like we are watching the democratization of our political parties in Haiti right before our eyes. So many political parties are now saying that they are going to let their members make the selection as to who will represent their party during the next election. OPL, MOPOD, FUSION, just to name a few stated that they will have Primary election.

Now my question: what about Fanmi Lavalas? Will this political party follow the steps of the other ones and conduct primary as well? This is something very interesting to watch during the next few days or months. Will the Fanmi Lavalas of Jean Bertrand Aristide survive if they decide not to conduct Primary election? Will the party members accept to be under a Dictatorship form of political party or will the demand that the party open to all and that the best candidate will actually be selected to represent them during the next election?

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We just learned that some of the members of the Pitit Desalin has a rough time as Haitian Police entered the local in search of an individual by the name of Sonson. We also learned that former Senator Moise Jean Charles was man handled and would not be allowed to enter the facility.

The members of the Political party are left confused, not knowing why this incident took place. Mr. Assad Volcy said to the news reporters that were present that at the beginning there was no Justice of Peace present. The Justice of Peace later showed up only after the Police

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In past elections in Haiti, many people were complaining that there were too many candidates when in a single voting card, the population was obligated to pick one out of 30, 40 and sometimes, over 50 candidates. If they had a problem then, it is going to be much worst for the next one as there is a possibility to have close to 200 candidates to select from.

One may ask: what is wrong with this picture? Is it normal to have so many candidates running against each other in a single election? What does that demonstrate in term of politic in Haiti? What does it show about the Haitian person in general. Last, what does that say about the Haitian society?

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Under pressure from his countrymen and his allies around the world, Haiti's President Michel Martelly created a commission to come up with a solution to the current political mess, listened to their recommendations, and forced the Prime Minister to resign his post. These measures, however, have not appeased the opposition, who still demand Martelly's own resignation, using protest demonstrations as their main medium to get their view across.

The same commission called for the resignation of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) judges (citing they are the body responsible for elections and thus culpable for the delay), as well as that of Anel Alexis Jose, the president of the Supreme Council of Judicial Power. These demands have yet to be complied with, and the call is still going strong for the president to himself resign. Working against such an eventuality, President Martelly has already met with the CEP members who, reportedly, are ready to comply by tendering letters of resignation. It cannot escape notice that the deadline for a holding of elections is close at hand. Past January 12, 2014, if one is not held, parliament will be dissolved and the current Head of State will rule by Presidential Decree. This has created significant impetus for the organizing of demonstrative crowds, a phenomena that is only likely to increase in frequency as the time looms ever nearer.

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Civil court judge Raymond Jean Michel reported the former Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has three major accusations against him. The charges are money laundering, corruption and illicit drug trafficking.

He has been banned by judge Lamarre Belizaire from leaving Haiti as the probe is going on. Beside Jean Bertrand Aristide, several key people in his administrations also can't leave the country

According to the report, this investigation covers a long period of time, starting in 2005. It has been said that during the Government of Jean Bertrand Aristide, millions of dollars had been misappropriated from Public fund in Haiti.

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The political landscape just changed, once again, for Haiti. It isn't the outing of an old regime and in with a new this time, however, but the addition of another political party to the fray. The new party was born out of the recent meeting of the Patriotic Movement of the Democratic Opposition (MOPOD).

When the group met in late January, it was to discuss the current situation of politics in the society and also to put themselves in an appropriate position in the inter-Haitian dialogue to take place between the civil society, the political parties and the executive. They ended up resolving to turn their movement, previously only a means of bringing together the main opposition parties of RDNP, PROP, OPL, and INITE, into a new political party in order to secure the resignation of the current regime of President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

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It seems that President Michel Martelly did not only talk about unity in Gonaives to celebrate the 210th anniversary of Haiti independence; he actually followed it with concrete action. By inviting the former Haitian leaders to join him in Gonaives, he actually became the "First" as he usually likes to say to show that he is inclined to bring unity among Haitians. He is the first to meet with so many former head of states, first to invite them to participate in an anniversary that should have been a point of unity among all Haitians.

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Eat your heart out, opposition! I am assuming that the Haitian President Michel Martelly is probably saying just that following the result of the poll taken by the PR firms, Newlink and Dagmar, showing that the president is enjoying a comfortable 80.5% rating among the population. This is historic since this actually put him as the president with the highest approval rating in the Western Hemisphere.

Now, I am totally confused.

Isn't it just recently that anti-government protests brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of Port-au-Prince? what about the recent success of the Lavalas party in putting thousands and thousands of people to protest against the Martelly government?

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