Haiti's President was assassinated because he refused to leave office in Feb.

[Cattledog]

?quality=90&auto=webp

Jovenel Moïse had been struggling to quell growing public anger over his attempt to hold onto power despite the opposition’s insistence that his term had expired.

Mr. Moïse had been ruling by decree for more than a year. Many, including prominent jurists, contend that his term ended in February. Haiti has been rocked by protests against his rule, and also has suffered a surge in gang activity.

The opposition said that Mr. Moïse’s five-year term should have ended on Feb. 7, five years to the day since his predecessor, Michel Martelly, stepped down. When Mr. Moïse refused to leave office, thousands of Haitians took to the streets, setting trash and tires on fire as they demanded his resignation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/world/americas/haiti-president-killing.html

[Journeyman]

1. There's an object lesson here of sorts. Can't quite figure how it might impact our situation . . .

[malaise]

2. Sadly that is the truth

That was one hell of a lesson for others who thin they can hold on to power

[House of Roberts]

3. If his term was over, wasn't there an election?

Who won?

[pnwest]

5. Yes, then on the day his successor was to be

sworn in, he locked the doors to their govt building and refused to let anyone in. Rachel did a story on it that day, that was a few weeks ago and I havent kept track of what’s happened since - but it’s looking like he never let go of power…

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Link? (nt)

[pnwest]

7. I don't have a link, I watched it on Rachel that day.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. There is no sign of any election, or of a successor being locked out, on the internet

Maybe it was another country?

[Sneederbunk]

10. It was Samoa.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Thank you. I thought it sounded familiar, but not Haiti, and indeed I posted that on DU

https://www.democraticunderground.com/113328898

[pnwest]

14. Oh, damn! You're right. Sorry, I was mistaken.

That's what I get for thinkin' when I'm not used to it...

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The UN says the election wasn't due till late this year, and his term ran till Feb 2022

because his election was delayed by a year.

A tense political crisis, shrinking civic space and chronic development deficits are exacerbating dire humanitarian conditions in Haiti, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council in a videoconference meeting today, while calling on international partners to support crucial elections scheduled for later in 2021.

Helen La Lime, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), briefed the 15-member Council on the Secretary-General’s latest report (document S/2021/133), covering the period from 1 September 2020 to 31 January 2021. She said that, despite the precarious calm currently prevailing in the Caribbean nation, efforts by part of the opposition party to unseat President Jovenel Moïse — as well as actions taken in response to a recent alleged coup attempt — have further entrenched the country’s year-old political crisis and compounded its increasingly dire economic, social and humanitarian challenges.

https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14442.doc.htm

Amid deteriorating socioeconomic conditions and a lingering political impasse, political and civil society leaders in Haiti must ensure that parliamentary and presidential elections take place within the current calendar year to enable an orderly democratic transfer of power in February 2022, experts told the Security Council today.

“As Haiti prepares to enter a new electoral cycle, an inclusive and participatory process will be essential to consolidate the path toward good governance and political stability,” said Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), as she briefed the 15-member Council.

https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14554.doc.htm

And I think the NYT is just plain wrong about this:

Mr. Moïse insisted that he had one more year to serve, because his term did not begin until a year after the vote that brought him to the top office amid accusations of electoral fraud.

The February 2016 election did not involve Moïse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2016_Haitian_presidential_election . It was disputed, and a new one held in November 2016, which Moïse won. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2016_Haitian_presidential_election

His term began 3 months after the election, not a year.

[FelineOverlord]

8. Apparently, he was rewriting Haiti's constitution

And wanted to be an authoritarian dictator . . . sounds familiar . . .

Link to tweet

[malaise]

12. Indeed he appointed a different PM a few days befor he was killed

His term in office ended months ago - this was no paragon of either virtue or democracy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. The OAS, UN and USA all agreed with him his term lasted until Feb 2022

Because after he led the Nov 2015 1st round of the election, the 2nd was suspended amid accusations of fraud. Someone else was appointed interim president, a new election was held in Nov 2016, and he won that (in the 1st round, with over 50% of a low turnout). He became president in Feb 2016, and so reckons he gets 5 years of being president, which sounds reasonable.

More of a problem was the failure to hold parliamentary elections in 2019.

https://www.france24.com/en/20200114-political-crisis-in-haiti-could-result-in-president-ruling-single-handedly

I don't know exactly how fault for that should be apportioned, but as president I'd guess a lot of it was his.