The fall continues. After the authorities announced that they had foiled a coup plan on Sunday February 7 against the disputed President Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian opposition has just appointed a leader who is supposed to ensure a political transition in a country in the grip of to a general crisis. In a video message sent to AFP, a 72-year-old judge, Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis, said “Accept the choice of the opposition and civil society to be able to serve their country as provisional president of the transition”. According to a former senator, Youri Latortue, this interim is scheduled to last twenty-four months. “The roadmap is established for two years with the organization of a national conference, the elaboration of a new Constitution and the holding of elections”, detailed Mr. Latortue who, after having been advisor to President Michel Martelly, mentor of Jovenel Moïse, declared himself opposed to power.
Mr. Moïse maintains that his mandate at the head of this country, the poorest in the Americas, runs until February 7, 2022. But this date is contested by a good part of the population, the opposition and a growing number of jurists and civil society organizations. According to them, Mr. Moïse’s five-year term came to an end on Sunday, February 7. This disagreement of date arose from the fact that Mr. Moïse was elected on October 25, 2015 in a ballot canceled for fraud, then re-elected a year later. According to the Haitian Constitution of 1987, the terms of parliamentarians and the president begin the electoral year, and not the day of their inauguration.
“Cloudy situation”
Refraining from taking sides, the UN seems however to validate the electoral calendar defended by Jovenel Moïse. “He was sworn in in February 2017 for a five-year term”, declared Monday Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary general of the organization Antonio Guterres. The United Nations said “Worried” of the situation and called for calm the parties involved. Washington also expressed concern and issued a similar call for restraint: “The situation remains murky and we are awaiting the results of the police investigation” about the attack on the president, the State Department said.
In an interview with US state media Voice of America, Ned Price, spokesperson for American diplomacy, also supported the idea of a work-study program in 2022, while calling on Jovenel Moïse to “Show restraint” and to restore the democratic functioning of the country.
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