Institutional blockage in Haiti: no body to rule

Demonstrators erected flaming barricades during protests against Haitian President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on February 7, 2021. REUTERS - JEANTY JUNIOR AUGUSTIN

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2 min

Who runs Haiti?

The answer to this question has been highly political since Sunday.

Several opposition parties appointed on the night of Sunday to Monday a provisional transitional president because for them the mandate of Jovenel Moïse has ended.

He maintains that he will not have to leave power until February 7, 2022. The dilemma is that no national institution has the legal authority to rule on this conflict.

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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince, 

Amélie Baron

What divides the political opposition on the one hand and Jovenel Moïse and his supporters on the other is the interpretation of the latest electoral calendar with regard to the Constitution.

The Constitution, this fundamental law, Haiti has adopted following the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, Haitian politicians constantly refer to it but they violate it constantly since its adoption in 1987.

► To read also: Haiti: a key day for the political future of the country

For example, the Constitutional Council, which would today be able to rule on the duration of the mandate of Jovenel Moïse, this council only exists on paper.

Another solution that could have brought the country out of the crisis: the Senate has the capacity to establish itself as a High Court of Justice but as no election has been organized since the arrival of Jovenel Moïse to power, today it does not There is more than one third of the senators in office.

There is no equivalent of the Supreme Court in Haiti as in the United States: this extreme structural weakness of the Haitian state means that the crisis risks getting bogged down.

► Also to listen: Haiti: a worrying drift

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  • Haiti

  • Jovenel Moses

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