HAITI, ELECTIONS THEN AND ELECTIONS NOW!?

Elections are a fundamental element of the democratic process. They require transparency,trust, accuracy and clarity. Haiti's political culture has almost left us confused as to the true importance and function of elections. Why do we have so much tension when we need to choose a new leader? Why are so many of our politicians afraid of elections ? why do our elections take place without any form of meaningful debate between candidates? These are the questions we will address in this first 2010 post of Caribbean Focus.

Why do we have so much tension when we need to choose a new leader?
I am a young man I don't wish to speak too much about the remote electoral history of Haiti, but the following recent years of election remain fresh in my mind as I began to get conscious of the situations that befall Haiti from its quest for a stable democracy. In 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2006 we killed, we fought each other, we demonstrated violently throughout the country just to choose our president. In any democratic society, a leader must make his case to earn the trust of the people. In Haiti our politicians oppress the people, buy their trust under the canopy of extreme poverty, bribe electoral organizers for the top spot, instigate fear to force people to cast vote against their will, arm gangsters to disrupt electoral prospects , so we pervert every good process that would lead us to an established functioning state. As a result,Haiti is a fake democratic state where politicians and even the people pretend to be democratic. Democracy continues to elude us. I hope one day we will realize that all of us cannot be the president at the same time.

Why so many of our politicians are afraid of elections ?
Our politicians are numerous,we have a republic of political leaders. Every news cast is the announcement of a new political platform which has absolutely no base among the population, no political capital at all,but they can easily get the massively unemployed population of Haiti to demonstrate for the entire year as long as they have a truck with a few speaker boxes for the ambiance. To them, this is the test that they are legitimate and that they are ready to brag a presidential term. The problem is when they realize that the Haitian people has already chosen the leader even before any form of electoral campaign, everybody now starts pulling away from elections and they will give a million rationals why elections cannot take place. You know why?The answer is simple:they are afraid of the test of legitimacy.
An election is a test of legitimate positioning among the people,this is my definition, and most of our thousands of candidates never get even 0% of the national vote. This example was clear during the 2006 election. Many of our candidates stand absolutely no chance of becoming president of Haiti, they have no political or leadership mass ,they have no leadership flexibility, no sensitivity, even in times of extreme national disaster they want to keep the momentum of "dechoukage", all they care about is power by any means except good elections.

Why do our elections take place without any form of meaningful debate between candidates?

Let me start by saying that in this particular time in the History of the world, any elections conducted without a proper formal debate is meant to deceive the people. In Haiti our elections are based on high emotions and militancy nothing to do with competence , courage, vision, credibility and the list goes on... We all know that all these elements cannot necessarily be proven in a debate but it can reinforce the resilience of a candidate, it can place the people in a more conscious zone of decision, it can serve as an authentic means of positive differentiation of individual candidates. Furthermore, political debates also can serve as reference for the nations in their quest to be more attune to the concept of electing. A debate is also a great educational moment for the people and the candidates, it provides greater visibility to the future successes we so desperately need and the failures we encountered in the past. We must develop the culture of political debate in Haiti so that people can become familiar with our politicians under the microscope of our national or even the international media. I really don't see how democratic we can be if our elections continue to go as though they were a mere popularity contest or pageantry.

We must insist that in 2010 a strong debating agenda is put forward to the candidates ,we must bring them to the schools ,farming communities, slums ,everywhere not just to engage on a trip of political jargon, but to answer questions from the people, the media, from their fellow candidates and so forth. We cannot allow the meaning of our votes to be depleted by placing people in authority who cannot, by any means, carry out the responsibilities of manning our ship.Haiti is our legitimate ship. We need qualified captains to take us to destination.
We can avoid the extreme risks of crossing the ocean with fake captains that often leave us at the mercy of sharks or some foreign coast-guard.

This attitude has left us with a republic of NGOs, we cannot even fix a gully without the intervention of some foreign agency. This is unacceptable and we must fix it now. We must embrace the democratic principle for what it is and stop faking it. We must embrace integrity in leadership and also in our function as a nation to reject corruption in all its forms so that we may build Haiti as a model in this hemisphere. Haiti is meant to be a model of a free society not an epitome of poverty and despair as portrayed in the world media.

Louinel Jean
May 15th 2010