Michel Martelly Leaves Office With Haiti In Crisis Sunday February 07,2016

 

Michel Martelly ended his presidential term today without handing power to a successor, in an electoral crisis highlighting Haiti's long struggle to keep democracy on track in the 30 years since the Duvalier dictatorship ended.

 

Haiti's former President Michel Martelly says goodbye as he accompanied by his wife Sophia at the end of a ceremony marking the end of his presidential term in the Haitian Parliament in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 7, 2016.

  



Martelly was able to leave office thanks to a last-minute agreement hours before to install a transitional government after prolonged protests that sometimes turned violent.

"During its long road to the promised land, Haiti will remember that a certain Michel Joseph Martelly, Micky to his people, loved, gave, and built," he said during his last address as president.

Speaking before lawmakers at parliament in French and Creole, the outgoing president thanked those who accompanied him during the five years of his mandate. He also defended his family against accusations of embezzlement.

But he also acknowledged that history "will recall my failures, for which I take sole responsibility, among them the delay of presidential elections."

The electoral process was stopped after challenges from the opposition, which condemned an "electoral coup d'etat" masterminded by the executive power.

In the first round of presidential voting in October, Moise officially won 32.76 % of the vote, to 25.29 % for Celestin, who denounced those results as a "ridiculous farce."

A second round of presidential and partial legislative elections, initially set for December 27, 2015 was postponed indefinitely, preventing Michel Martelly from handing power to an elected successor on Feb 7 ,2016 as required under the constitution.

The vote, a runoff between Michel Martelly's favored candidate Jovenel Moise and opposition flag-bearer Jude Celestin, was called off following violence and opposition protests by demonstrators alleging that foul play had helped the government candidate take the first round.