Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

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Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
Electoral Permanent) to develop electoral laws and organize
and support elections. Under Article 291, which prohibited
close collaborators of the former government from holding
public office for a decade, it barred Roger Lafontant's candidacy.
Then, the Permanent Electoral Council announced the
parliamentary and presidential elections for December 16,
1990. Prospects for successful elections looked poor, given a
new wave of violence that included the murder of a council
member and associate, and a record since 1986 of delayed, canceled,
or rigged elections.
Aristide Presidency, February 7, 1991 -September 30,
1991
The two leading presidential candidates were Marc Bazin
and Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Bazin, a former World Bank economist
and right of center candidate of his party 7 , the Movement
for the Installation of Democracy in Haiti (Mouvement pour
l'lnstauration de la Democratic en Haiti—MIDH) , was referred
to as the "American candidate" because he was seen as being
the choice of the United States, where he had lived for many
years. By contrast, Aristide was an outspoken anti-Duvalierist
and a priest who entered the race at the last minute with tangential
links to the National Front for Change and Democracy
(Front National pour le Changement et la Democratic
FNCD).
The campaign was punctuated by violence and derogatory
rhetoric directed at Aristide—one rally was interrupted by a
grenade explosion that killed seven and wounded fifty others.
However, the December 16, 1990, elections went smoothly and
were judged to be honest. For both reasons, they were unprecedented
in Haitian election history. The elections were monitored
by international observer teams from the United States
led byJimmy Carter, the OAS, and the UN. Aristide, or "Titid,"
as he was affectionately called by his supporters, won a landslide
victory. Seventy-five percent of the eligible voters had
gone to the polls, and 66.48 percent had voted for him while
14.22 percent voted for Bazin. Having condemned makoutism,
Duvalierism, the excesses of the elite, and conservatism of the
church, Aristide had won a clear mandate to create a more just,
equal, and democratic Haiti.
Although most Haitians were jubilant, there were efforts to
sabotage Aristide even before he took office. On January 1,
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