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Monday, 8, February 2021

This Caribbean country remains mired in an institutional crisis that continues to deepen amidst street protests.

Opposition parties and social organizations on Monday determined that Jovenel Moise’s presidential term ended Feb. 7 and appointed Judge Joseph Jean Louis as “transition president.”

“I accept the choice of the opposition and civil society to be able to serve my country as interim president of the transition of the rupture. May God has mercy on the Haitian nation,” Jean Louis said in a video.

This appointment was made a day after President Moise said that another judge of the Court of Cassation had organized a plot to stage a coup against him.

“Let’s unite to make effective reforms to the country’s Constitution… the President is not leaving. He is still here. Let’s sit down together to give another direction to the country”, Moise said on Sunday.

“I have 364 days left in power. There will be no transition”, he added.While all this is going on, this Caribbean country remains mired in an institutional crisis that continues to deepen amidst street protests.

“Haiti has no longer had a functioning parliament since January 2020. Isolated, President Moise has since ruled by decree, fueling growing distrust among the population, which suffers daily from poverty and gang violence,” said local outlet La1ere.

“The Judiciary High Council today declared itself ‘deeply concerned’ by… the absence of political agreements in response to the expiration of the President’s constitutional mandate’,” it added.