A New Kind of Opposition Is Needed in Haiti
A working democracy needs a strong and organized opposition to challenge the governing party, in order to keep them honest on their promises. In Haiti, we have a fairly nascent democracy, as a result, the opposition is still trying to figure out its role and how to be relevant in a fractured society.
Modern Haitian democracy started in the late 1980’s after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship. Haitian society is still experimenting with the type of democracy that will best serve its interest.
In recent years, we have made small progress in understanding the role of elections in a democracy, and at the same time starting to understand the importance to respect the results of these elections.
Whatever form the final version of Haitian democracy takes in the coming decades, one of the things that is necessary is that the opposition must re-invent itself.
When a party or a group of candidates lost an election, their priority before blaming the winning party should be a self-assessment: Why did we lose? How can we do better next time? which part of the message did not reach the electorate? Those should be some of the important questions that the losing side must ask, if it wanted to be better prepared for the next time.
Sadly, Haitian culture does not put great value on self-assessment, for it is a society that is often ready to blame others for anything that is wrong. Auto-criticism is often seen as disloyalty. The shortcomings are never the fault of the individual or inner group, but rather it usually has to do with some outside forces.
The losers of elections strongly believed that they lost because, either of foreign influence, usually the US government, or that the winners found a way to buy the votes . It’s not to say these factors are insignificant or do not really happen, but for the most part, a lost elections in Haiti has more to do with underestimating the adversaries than anything else.
The Haitian opposition cannot only be a nuisance to those who are elected, by constantly organizing street demonstrations or occupying the airwaves with all sort of accusation of things that are not going well in the country. It needs to align its messages to the needs of the population.
A demarcation from political emptiness to an approach that relies on political research is needed to create a more robust and progressive opposition. This will automatically bring with it better policies and governance from the group in power.
In a democracy, the opposition is inevitable. The mantra of opposition today, and governing tomorrow is the alternation that makes democracy the best form of government.
There is so much that needs to be done in Haiti that no one who is involved or interesting in politics should be void of worthy ideas. Haiti is a country that needs to be built from the ground up with the strength, intellect, and sweat of all its citizens.
The different fractions that currently make up the Haitian opposition need to make better alliance among themselves, find a common purpose, propose a way out of this chaotic and corrupted abyss, and above all, find the courage to unite for the greater good of the nation.
It is a daunting task, but one that is an imperative in order to safeguard democracy in Haiti, and to renew the hope of a self-destructing society.
