The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who continues to insist on using his one-man rule of the Caribbean nation to usher in constitutional reform.
Under Secretary of State David Hale spoke by phone Thursday with Moise and emphasized the need for Haiti to hold overdue legislative elections as soon as possible and for Haiti's democratic institutions to determine the proper legal mechanism for constitutional change, with input from civil society, State Department Deputy spokesperson Cale Brown said.
The call came on the same day that Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro took to Twitter. Almagro said it's "essential for institutional continuity that elections take place no later than Jan. 2021."
The OAS had always said that elections in Haiti should take place by April 2021. But with the Trump administration now calling for Haiti to hold elections by January, Almagro's tweet signaled that the hemispheric body may have now moved up its own deadline.
Moise has been ruling by decree since January, when Parliament became dysfunctional because of overdue elections. In September, he appointed nine members to a Provisional Electoral Council and tasked them with preparing a constitutional referendum and organizing local, municipal, legislative and presidential elections.
But his plan to give Haitians a new constitution by way of referendum isn't supported by the Trump administration. A State Department spokesperson told the Miami Herald last week that while constitutional reform is up to the Haitian people, "any change to the constitution should be made in accord with Haiti's own laws and constitutional processes and in full accord with internationally recognized democratic standards."
Legal scholars and opposition leaders have said that any modification of Haiti's 1987 constitution must be done by Parliament through an amendment process as outlined in the Haitian Magna Carta, which forbids change by referendum.
The day after Hale's call to reiterate the U.S. position, Moise swore in a five-member advisory committee to help draft a new constitution. The group was appointed by a presidential decree that cited Haiti's Jan. 1, 1804, act of independence. A week earlier, Moise, criticizing the current constitution, told Haitians in a national address that only after voting on a referendum will they vote on elections.
