Haiti: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Political System: Haiti’s 1987 constitution establishes a semi-presidential system of government that divides power among a president, who serves as chief of state; a prime minister, who serves as head of government; a bicameral legislature (the National Assembly); and regional assemblies.

Haiti traditionally has had a strong presidency. The president serves a five-year term and may not serve consecutive terms. The cabinet, composed of the prime minister and the 15 ministry heads, advises the president, serving at his pleasure. The president shares power with the prime minister, who is nominated by the president and approved by the legislature. The 83-seat Chamber of Deputies and 27-seat Senate form the Haitian legislature, known as the National Assembly. Popularly elected deputies serve four-year terms. Senators serve six-year terms, with one-third of the body being elected every two years. Each department elects three senators. Members of both houses are directly elected and may serve consecutive terms.

The 11-member Supreme Court (or Court of Cassation) operates at the apex of Haiti’s judicial system. At the lowest level, justices of the peace issue arrest warrants, adjudicate minor offenses, mediate disputes, and take depositions. Courts of the first instance hear more serious or complicated cases. Appeals from the courts of first instance go before one of the country’s 30 appeals courts. The Supreme Court serves as the final arbiter on legal and constitutional questions. A separate court in Port-au-Prince handles labor issues.

Administrative Divisions: Haiti has nine departments: Artibonite, Centre, Grand’ Anse, Nord, Nord-Est, Nord-Ouest, Ouest, Sud, and Sud-Est. Before leaving office, President Aristide signed a bill creating a tenth department, but the measure has been awaiting publication since November 2003 and thus has not yet become law.

Provincial and Local Government: Below the federal level, Haiti has a complicated and decentralized system of regional and local governance. Haiti’s nine departments are divided into 41 districts, which are further divided into 133 municipalities (called communes). Further dividing the municipalities, 565 communal sections (sections communales) exist⎯roughly equivalent to towns in the United States. Regular elections occur on each level. The communal sections elect a representative council; each of the municipalities elects both a three-member municipal council and a municipal assembly. At the department level, the democratically elected departmental assembly passes legislation, and the departmental council (chosen by the assembly) enforces it.

Judicial and Legal System: Haiti’s constitution calls for an independent judiciary to interpret the country’s laws, which are based on the Napoleonic Code. The criminal code dates to 1832, although some amendments have been made. The constitution guarantees defendants the right to a fair public trial, including the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial, to present witnesses and evidence in their own defense, and to confront witnesses against them. In practice, however these rights are often denied. Moreover, the government is not required to provide free counsel, and many Haitians cannot afford representation on their own. The judiciary, like most of the government, suffers from widespread corruption. Threats of violence often render judges and juries unable to make impartial decisions. Bribes not only sway judges but also taint potential witnesses. In addition to corruption, the judicial system suffers from shortages of both funding and qualified personnel. The combination of corruption and inefficiency has resulted in a serious backlog of criminal cases and an overflow in the country’s jails. Nearly 80 percent of incarcerated men and women still await their initial trail, despite some effort in 2005 to reduce pretrial detention.

Electoral System: All Haitians 18 years of age or older have the right to vote. According to the constitution, elections should occur in Haiti at least every two years, to fill the presidency, legislature, or local offices. Violence, however, has made this schedule impossible since 2004 and at previous times in Haiti’s history. Presidential elections are to be held every five years, but few presidents have reached the end of their terms. Coups frequently have upset the electoral schedule. Elections to choose a new president and parliament were held in Feburary 2006.

Electoral law requires that legislative candidates receive more than 50 percent of the vote in order to win office during the first round of elections. If no candidate for a seat wins more than 50 percent, a run-off election occurs. Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil Electoral Provisoire⎯CEP) oversees all electoral activities. Although nominally independent, the CEP is routinely subjected to political manipulation by the party in power. During the February 2006 elections, the CEP was widely criticized for its initial decision to count an unusually large number of blank ballots, which would have denied René Préval the majority needed for a first-round victory. Facing international criticism and domestic protests, the CEP later reversed itself and declared Préval the first-round winner. The second round of the parliamentary elections was held on April 21, 2006, without incident.

Politics and Political Parties: Numerous political parties—most of them small—field candidates in elections. Some parties aspire to have broad influence but are unwilling to bend from their single-issue focus. Others exist merely as fronts for ambitious individuals. The smaller Haitian political parties often form alliances and coalitions. President Aristide’s Lavalas Family (Fanmi Lavalas⎯FL) party continues to receive a large measure of support. A broad alliance of democratically minded parties known as the Democratic Convergence (Convergence Démocratique⎯CD) provides the most distinguishable opposition to FL. Other umbrella coalitions attempting to unite smaller parties include the Alliance for the Liberation and Advancement of Haiti (ALAH), Grand Center Right Front Coalition, and Haitian Greater Socialist Party (Grand Parti Socialiste Haïtien⎯GPSH).

Although the army disbanded in 1995, former military personnel remain a political force. Many former officers participated in the opposition movement that led to President Aristide’s ouster. Similarly, the Roman Catholic Church continues to exert influence on the political scene. During the Duvalier dictatorship of the 1980s, political parties and trade unions were crushed, leaving only the Catholic Church to represent the interests of those oppressed by the government. Since that time, the church has become less political but remains a potential political advocate for opposition groups.

Mass Media: As in many developing countries, radio reaches the widest audience in Haiti. Estimates vary, but more than 300 radio stations are believed to broadcast throughout the country. Talk show programs serve as one of the few ways in which ordinary Haitians can speak out about politics and the government. A law passed in 1997 declares the airwaves to be the property of the government, but at least 133 unlicensed radio stations operate freely. In addition, there are 50 community-based stations throughout the country.

Television is available only to a minority of relatively wealthy households. Two television stations serve approximately 42,000 households that have television receivers. Satellite stations from foreign countries are available in Haiti, but only to those with the expensive equipment necessary to receive them. Haiti’s three French-language newspapers have a total circulation of less than 20,000. Small, Creole-language newspapers are printed irregularly.

Foreign Relations: Multinational organizations have long played a role in Haiti’s development. Presently, United Nations (UN) peacekeeping troops operate in Haiti. In 2004 the UN Security Council authorized the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which provided troops and police personnel to Haiti for an extended duration. Additionally, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have funded many improvements in Haiti’s economic infrastructure, education system, and health care network.

In large part as a result of its proximity, the United States has shown a prolonged interest in creating economic stability and functional democracy in Haiti. During the U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915−34), U.S. Marines developed many laws and practices that still exist in the country. The United States serves as Haiti’s primary partner for both exports and imports and, in 1994, took an active role in restoring President Aristide to power. In 2000 President Bill Clinton signed legislation suspending economic aid to Haiti based on U.S. government concerns over the legitimacy of parliamentary elections and an absence of accountability practices. Most U.S. and international aid was restored in July 2004.

Haiti’s ties to its neighbors grew stronger during the 1990s. Relations with the Dominican Republic, which traditionally had been strained by border disputes and the perception that the Dominican police mistreat Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic, improved. A visit by President René Préval (1996−2000) to the Dominican Republic in 1996 was followed by a meeting between President Aristide (2000−4) and the Dominican president, Hipólito Mejía, in 2002. The countries agreed on a “free-trade zone” to provide jobs for Haitians and labor for Dominican companies.

Since 2000, trade has increased among all Caribbean countries. In 2002 the Dominican Republic was second only to the United States in trade with Haiti. Additionally, Haiti conducted significant trade with Trinidad and Tobago. In another significant step, Haiti achieved full membership in the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) in 2002. However, after President Aristide fled Haiti in 2004, Caricom refused to recognize Haiti’s interim government because of concerns that Aristide may have been pressured to resign through antidemocratic means. Some Caricom member states began normalizing relations with the interim administration of President Boniface Alexandre during 2005, and the organization welcomed the new Préval administration.

Membership in International Organizations: Haiti was an original member of the United Nations (UN). Haiti maintains that membership and supports many of the UN’s specialized agencies. Haiti also belongs to the International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, International Organization for Migration, World Health Organization, and World Trade Organization. Regionally, Haiti has membership in the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group), Inter-American Development Bank, Latin American Economic System, and Organization of American States (OAS). Haiti’s membership in the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) was suspended following Aristide’s resignation in 2004. Some Caricom members reestablished relations with Haiti, but the organization withheld full recognition until elections were held in February 2006.

Major International Treaties: Haiti is a party to many significant treaties, including international agreements on agriculture, customs, genocide, human rights, intellectual property, labor, and nuclear non-proliferation. Haiti is a signatory to numerous environmental agreements, including those on biodiversity, climate change, desertification, law of the sea, marine dumping, marine life conservation, and ozone layer protection. Treaties to which Haiti has withheld support include agreements on biological weapons, chemical weapons, conservation, and gas warfare.

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