Is the death of Jovenel Moise the last straw in Haiti’s long democratic erosion?
Following the assassination of Jovenel Moise and a contentious election fast approaching, democracy in Haiti is hanging in the balance. Jovenel was assassinated in his home on July 7, 2021, and his wife was severely injured by a group of mercenaries. The signs that democracy is eroding in Haiti include low voters turnout, multiple protests against the government, international mingling, insecurity, and the assassination of the president.
During the 2016 election, which was won by Jovenel Moise, turnout was only 18%. A low voter turnout is concerning because it shows that citizens have a low sense of political efficacy. Such a low turnout is the consequence of voter suppression, violence in the streets, and distrust in the government. According to Freedom House, those are all signs that democracy in the country is declining. Freedom House gives a very low score to Haiti on free and fair parliamentary elections.
At the beginning of 2021, significant protests erupted against the Jovenel government in Port-au-Prince. Aljazeera also reported that a Supreme Court judge and a senior police official were arrested because of rumors of a failed coup against the former president. People expressed their frustration with the government, and many said that the Jovenel presidency was a dictatorship. Some protestors argued that his term was up. Many Haitians were especially worried about his administration’s plans to change the country’s constitution.
Additionally, during the Jovenel administration, conditions in the country deteriorated significantly: gangs took over the street of Port-au-Prince, with rape, killing, and kidnapping being almost a daily routine in the capital. As a result, many people rose up and asked the former president to step down from office. Yet, despite all these shortcomings, the Biden administration continued to support his administration, publicly agreeing that Jovenel’s term would end in 2022.
Lack of trust in the country’s leadership is a long-term problem in Haiti. Many Haitians believe that the first and the last free election was in 1990 (won by Jean-Bertrand Aristide). Since then, many Haitians believe that the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the United States, and more have been meddling with Haiti’s elections and political affairs. According to Robert Fatton in the Washington Post, international observers are supposedly in Haiti to make sure that the elections are fair and free of corruption. The Haitian people seem to think otherwise as they protest the involvement of these countries every time. Given Haiti’s history with countries like the US, France, and Canada since colonialism, we can understand why the Haitian people do not trust them.
In “How Democracies Die” (2018), Levitsky and Ziblatt explain that when many people believe that elections are not fair, it is a sign that the democracy of that country is threatened. This has recently become an issue in the United States, “as three out of four Republicans are no longer certain that they were living under a democratic system with free elections.” (Levitsky, Ziblatt, 38). The situation is even more dire in Haiti. High levels of distrust suggest that Haitians no longer believe in the republic and the constitution. They don’t think that they live in a free country with the right to a fair and accessible election.
Lastly, the assassination of the late President Jovenel Moise is a clear sign of the struggles of democracy in the country. This tragedy was an eye-opener for many on the international stage of what the Haitian people have been screaming: they are not safe, and their democracy is at risk.
If the most protected person in Haiti was killed in his home, what does that say for the rest of the population who do not have the same luxury of 24 hours security?
Works Cited
Election Guide. Republic of Haiti ELECTION FOR PRESIDENT. Election Guide Democracy Assistance & Elections News, 2016. Election Guide Democracy Assistance & Elections News, https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2985/.
Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. How Democracies Die. Penguin Books, 2019.
Fatton, Robert. Will Haitians get the chance to determine their future — without foreign interference? The Washington Post, 2021. The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/23/will-haitians-get-chance-determine-their-future-without-foreign-interference/.
Freedom House. Haiti. Freedom House, 2019. FreedomHouse, https://freedomhouse.org/country/haiti/freedom-world/2020.
Thomassiant Joseph, Ralph. What is happening in Haiti, where political crisis persists? Aljazeera, 2021. Aljazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/28/what-is-happening-in-haiti-political-crisis-persists.
You mention that the voter turnout rate in Haiti for the 2016 presidential election was super low at 18% and you also mention some of the reasons as to why it is so low. Do you believe that the Hatian government is looking at this low number and prioritizing addressing the situation in order to make it higher in the future? What specific things, if any, are being done about this? Another thing that I am wondering is what kind of specific events have taken place in order for the people of Haiti to believe that the United States is meddling in their elections? Does this stem from the media? As I have learned from the Shorensein’s Center Understanding And Reducing The Spread of Misinformation Online, sometimes fake headlines and news are spread at a larger volume than that of the truth simply because it is dramatic. It brings in hits despite its truthfulness. With that being said, I wonder what concrete proof there is that foreign countries including the United States are really working to actively skew the results of the elections or if that storyline falls into the category of fake news that appeals to the public. In saying this, I admit that I have very little knowledge on the topic of whether or not foreign countries are playing a role in Haiti’s elections. I just am curious on the basis that this claim stems from.
One thing that I really liked that you did in your blog post was including the quote from How Democracies Die. Since the authors Levitsky and Ziblatt are experts in the topic of democratic erosion, by using their voice to reiterate your point that Haiti is experiencing political backsliding because of their citizens’ mistrust in the electoral procedure and results, it just makes your point that much stronger If you wanted to continue to compare the citizen distrust in election results between the United States and Haiti further you might want to take a look at Huq, Aziz, and Ginsburg’s How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy. They have a really great perspective on the 2016 U.S. election and how the public response to it led to political backsliding. Another thing I really loved was your ending. By ending in a question you really leave the reader thinking and reflecting on the answer to the question though it is written in a rhetorical sense. I loved that. Overall I think you did a really great job giving your readers a rundown on why Haiti is experiencing democratic erosion. I wish you the best of luck!
The situation in Haiti is a pretty scary one. It worries me that the refugees fleeing from Haiti to the United States are going to be weaponized by politicians for one reason or another back in Washington D.C. Instead of stepping up to help and acting like a world leader, the US is rejecting them with violence and discrimination from the borders. It is also inappropriate to say that the refugees should go about entering the country in “legal ways,” when those legal ways barely work because of the amount of gridlock when it comes to granting asylum to hundreds of thousands of refugees. I really like how you incorporated Haiti’s distrust in the governments of colonial countries like the US, France, and Canada because of their past with violent imperialism over the rest of the world. It is important to consider something like that when talking about world relations and such because if historical context like that is ignored, the countries in power can continue to take advantage of these less powerful and more colonized countries. How do you feel the elections in the near future are going to go? Will it put a stop to the political unrest that the Haitian people are currently feeling? Are the contestants political plants by more powerful people from different countries like the Haitian people are conspiring about? I wouldn’t be surprised, personally, if these countries are meddling in Haiti’s political affairs.