by Kim Ives

May 18, Haitian Flag Day, is one of the most important patriotic dates on the Haitian calendar. On that date in 1803, Haiti’s founding father, Gen. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, after meeting in the town of Arcahaie with Gen. Alexandre Pétion, adopted the red and blue Haitian bicolor, created by tearing the white from the French flag.

This year, the party Dessalines Coordination (KOD) held a march from Port-au-Prince’s Fort National neighborhood to the statue of Dessalines on the Champ de Mars to demand that before any elections are held, the government of President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Evans Paul step down, a provisional government similar to that of 1990 be established, and the United Nations occupation force MINUSTAH leave the country.

Among political parties, KOD stands almost alone in rejecting Martelly’s “(s)elections” scheduled for August, October, and December, refusing to field candidates until its demands are met. As financial, logistical, transparency, and political problems around the proposed elections grow, the KOD call is gaining traction, not just in the Haitian masses, but also among some politicians.

Tellingly, Serge Jean-Louis, a leader of the Popular Patriotic Dessalinien Movement (MOPOD), joined the May 18 march, as did Guy Numa, a leader with the Democratic Popular Movement (MODEP).

In 1990, following the fall of the military dictatorship of Gen. Prosper Avril, Haiti was ruled by an interim provisional government composed of a Council of State, drawn from diverse sectors of civil society, and President Ertha Trouillot, who had headed Haiti’s Supreme Court. The Dec. 16, 1990 election, organized sovereignly without UN supervision, is widely viewed as one of Haiti’s most full, fair, and democratic elections, resulting in the Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s first presidency.

In September 2013, KOD proposed that a similar Council of State, drawn from 13 sectors of Haitian society, be formed, with a Supreme Court Justice presiding, to hold elections. KOD also called for the complete withdrawal of the 6,600 remaining troops of the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti, which has militarily and illegally occupied the country since June 2004.

The MINUSTAH, along with Washington and the Organization of American States (OAS), intervened in Haiti’s last elections in November 2010 and March 2011, overruling Haiti’s electoral council and outraging many Haitians. Every Haitian election since that of 1990 has seen some degree of foreign meddling, a pattern KOD seeks to break.

At Jean-Jacques Dessalines’ statue, we rallied to ask him to give us the strength to overcome the reactionary forces now in power and the occupation troops that stand behind them,” said Thomas Jean Dieufaite, a KOD leader.

KOD also called for a demonstration on Jun. 4, to mark the 11^th anniversary of MINUSTAH’s deployment in Haiti.