As Haiti runs into chaos after its president’s execution, it needs international help more than ever

Haiti had not seen the assassination of a president of the republic in more than a century, when Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was slain in July 1915.

The recent execution of President Jovenel Moïse revives a painful past. After the fall of the dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in February 1986, Haiti chose to follow a democratic process, even if that choice proved difficult at times.

The new constitution of 1987, an important symbol of Haiti’s new start, established a five-year renewable mandate for the presidency. Jovenel Moïse came to power on February 7, 2017, as the sixth president of the republic, elected with a constitutional term of five years.

I worked as a civil servant in the Haitian public administration for eight years and am now a doctoral student at the École nationale d’administration publique in Québec City. Jean-François Savard, my co-author, taught public policy design and implementation in Haiti as part of a Canadian federal government project to build capacity within Haiti’s public service. The analyses and conclusions we present here are drawn from our professional experience and research.

Chaos in Haiti

The main explanations for the current chaos in Haiti can be found in the country’s political, institutional, economic and security conditions.

Despite being elected in the first round of the November 2016 presidential elections, Moïse only garnered…

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