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There is not a single elected official left in Haiti. Not one.

The world has a number of 鈥渇aux鈥� democracies鈥攃ountries where leaders carefully create a veneer of citizen support, but in reality, they are only in office because they鈥檝e effectively rigged elections and throttled democratic freedoms. Venezuela鈥檚 Maduro and Nicaragua鈥檚 Ortega, for example, each hold their country鈥檚 highest office because they鈥檝e jailed credible , , shut down independent media, and bent judges and election officials to their will. Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin keeps getting 鈥溾�� because he effectively controls every Russian institution and source of power鈥nd his most  have a habit of dying off or languishing in prison.

But Haiti鈥檚 situation is different. Its democracy isn鈥檛 faux鈥攊t鈥檚 nonexistent. 

On paper, Haiti is a representative democracy. Its constitution provides for a directly elected president who serves a five-year term and a bicameral legislature made up of a 119-seat chamber of deputies and a 30-seat senate. When Jovenel Moise, Haiti鈥檚 last directly-elected president, took office in early 2017, the country was rated 鈥溾�� by Freedom House. But within a few years of Moise becoming president, any semblance of a functioning democracy largely vanished. 

The 2016 elections which brought Moise to power would turn out to be the country鈥檚 last. In 2019 and 2020, citing security concerns and COVID-19, Moise repeatedly refused to organize elections for parliament, cycled through prime ministers, and began to . He ignored calls by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro, and other regional leaders for elections to be held as soon as 鈥渢echnically feasible.鈥� As a result, most of the country鈥檚 elected officials, including those at the local level, would see their terms expire in 2020 without concrete plans for how their successors would be chosen. 

Facing increasing calls for his ouster, Moise named , a neurosurgeon by trade, to serve as his new and seventh prime minister in July 2021. Tragically, Moise was assassinated just days before Henry was supposed to be sworn-in.  With no president and no functioning legislature, Henry was neither ratified by Haiti鈥檚 legislature nor even formally sworn-in. Yet at the urging of the international community, Henry assumed the role of interim prime minister and Haiti鈥檚 de facto head of state. 

By January 2023, the country鈥檚 鈥攖he only remaining Haitian officials who were elected to their office鈥攕aw their terms expire. Henry, never having been elected, continued to stay in power. In April 2024, at the strong urging of the US and other governments, a new Transitional Presidential Council was formed鈥攁gain without any elected members鈥攚hich has pledged to hold elections in 2025 in order to have a new president by February 7, 2026. As previously arranged in the negotiations that produced the new council, Henry  from office.   

In the wake of Moise鈥檚 murder 鈥攁 crime that has yet to be solved鈥� more than 200 gangs are operating in Haiti, many of them among the world鈥檚 most violent. Gang violence killed almost 5,000 people in Haiti last year 鈥攁n  from 2022鈥攁nd the gangs are responsible for an estimated 2,500 kidnappings. Already this year, they are responsible for more than 2,500 deaths and injuries, according to the United Nations, and are fanning a deeper humanitarian crisis with the main international airport and the seaport being shut down for months. 

The most powerful countries in the Western Hemisphere, such as the US and Canada, and the UN have largely said that they won鈥檛 intervene in Haiti unless there鈥檚 a clear mandate from the Haitian people. But who speaks for the people of Haiti? Anybody?