Haiti's new president

Tet offensive
Popular result, murky past

With post-earthquake reconstruction sputtering amid official lethargy, the slow disbursal of aid, a cholera epidemic and a political vacuum, Haitians have had little to celebrate. At last some have found a reason to do so. This week officials declared Michel Martelly, a popular kompa (Haitian merengue) singer, the winner of the country’s chaotic presidential election, with more than two-thirds of the vote. That prompted fireworks, dancing in the streets and a symphony of car-honking and gunshots fired in the air. Technically, the result is just preliminary. But an aide to Mr Martelly’s opponent, Mirlande Manigat, said she would not challenge it. Aid donors blessed the outcome.

Mr Martelly was once best-known for dressing in drag and mooning his fans on stage. He has admitted to smoking crack cocaine. In 1995 he vowed to perform nude on top of the National Palace if he became president—a promise he will not have to keep, since the building collapsed in the earthquake of January 2010. As a candidate, he toned down his antics and donned bespoke suits. But he still appealed to Haiti’s youthful majority. They called him “Tet Kale,” a reference to his “peeled”, or bald, head.

Assuming he takes over on schedule on May 14th, Mr Martelly will be Haiti’s first elected leader with no ties to the movement that ousted Jean-Claude Duvalier, a dictator, in 1986. Discerning the president-elect’s politics is difficult. He was a close friend of the brutal military leaders of a 1991 coup and has talked of recreating the army, causing many Haitian intellectuals to fear he is a right-wing demagogue.

But in a victory press conference Mr Martelly made a point of mentioning civil liberties and the rule of law. He promises much besides: job-creation, education, health, justice and help for farming. But he has yet to announce priorities or strategies. Some worry that he lacks the political experience and management skills necessary to juggle the demands of state-building with those of donors.

The road ahead looks as rutted, rocky and slow as any in rural Haiti. The party of René Préval, the outgoing president, dominates the newly elected legislature. Despite Mr Martelly’s visible support on the street, his mandate is not particularly broad. Just 23% of registered voters cast valid votes in the run-off election, recalling the title of one of Mr Martelly’s mid-1990s hit albums: “I Don’t Care”.

P. Jean-Yves Urfié
Paroisse Saint Paul de Furcy
509-37-98-39-69
(Haïti)