Official results for the Haitian presidential election has been released. This long process should have occurred in February 2010 but has been postponed due to the earthquake first and then accusations of fraud. Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly is officially the president. With no political experience, the singer is preparing to play a very delicate role: to give Haiti a government capable of interacting with international organizations, NGOs and, above all, Haitians. Many people wonder which line Martelly will take.

The first issue that has begun to deal, in recent days, is about the presence of two bulky ex-presidents recently returned to the country, the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and the ex-priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide. His openness is aimed at national reconciliation, however, that equates a figure responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and the theft of large state assets (Duvalier) with a legitimately elected president and ousted from power in a military coup (Aristide 2004). His proposal of amnesty can not be reconciled with the demands of civil society organizations calling for a trial against Duvalier: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have produced hundreds of pages of documents calling for the indictment of former dictator, until now exiled in France for torture and murder.

Ambiguous is the relationship between Martelly and authors of the coup against Aristide. Guy Philippe, leader of the revolt of 2004, said that although he supported the presidential candidacy of Martelly, did not close any agreement or covenant. The role of France, former colonial Haiti and was responsible for imposing a large fine during the independence period, it is also ambiguous. The French ambassador in the Dominican Republic has announced that France, by the earthquake to date, has spent € 486 million for reconstruction, but the analysis of public finances it turns out that adding the money is actually between 2010 and 2011 will not get to 200 million.

Martelly’s government, which will be named president on May 14, is already undermined, however, at birth. The president-elect, in fact, will have to deal with at least four elements of weakness. The first doubt about the electoral process from which it was excluded, by the end of 2009, Aristide’s party, Fanmi Lavalas, and this has left many people still believe in the renewal process began at the time former President, without political representation.
Secondly, the balloting for the presidential turnout was between 23 and 30%, this means that Martelly was chosen by less than a fifth of the population. The third element concerns the weakness of Parliament, which is controlled almost entirely by the party of outgoing President Preval, who was accused of rigging during the first round, had to surrender and accept the exclusion of its candidate for president, but he stood strong for what about deputies and senators.

Finally, but perhaps the first problem, at this time Haiti has no independent policy, every action must be agreed with foreign countries, the United Nations and with the large NGOs, which leaves very little room for maneuver. The risk in the short mount a dissatisfaction with the President and that anyone would think to take advantage of renewing the tradition of coups is real. To avoid this will be a key aid policy of the United States, Brazil and Europe that will support, without limiting their independence, the new president. These days, finally, the Jesuit Refugee Service denounces the deportations that the U.S. is committed against the Haitian immigrants, a couple of days ago a group of 19 people has been returned. Faced with protests, the State Department says that the problem of their quality of life concerns the Haitian government, not the U.S.

Roberto Codazzi