Port-au-Prince — The renewed prospect of a constitutional referendum championed by Jerry Tardieu and aligned with the governmental apparatus of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has reignited persistent political friction. Beneath the carefully calibrated language of a “national pact”, the idea of constitutional consultation resurfaces, notwithstanding the explicit prohibition enshrined in Haiti’s 1987 Constitution. The initiative unfolds within a political sequence in which appeals to stability stand in direct tension with the imperative of legality.
The proposal is framed by its sponsors as an institutional reconfiguration intended to restore coherence to the state. Critics, however, interpret it as a political acceleration whose consequences remain uncertain. What is presented as consensus-building appears, to opponents, as a strategic alignment among historically rival factions. The debate therefore extends beyond partisan manoeuvring and reaches the structural foundations of constitutional governance.
Further intensifying scrutiny are structural weaknesses within the electoral registry. Reports suggesting the presence of approximately 800,000 duplicate entries raise substantial concerns regarding the numerical integrity of any forthcoming ballot. In the absence of a transparent audit and corrective safeguards, the credibility of electoral outcomes—whether referendary or general—remains open to serious challenge. Institutional trust, once compromised, is not easily restored.
The broader governance environment compounds these doubts. Haiti’s score of 16/100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International casts significant doubt on the administration’s capacity to ensure procedural integrity. Under such conditions, the issue is not solely the desirability of reform; it concerns the state’s practical ability to conduct a transparent, verifiable and constitutionally compliant electoral process, including diaspora participation. At stake is not only constitutional amendment, but the resilience of constitutional order itself.