When the country said 'we aren't ready for these elections' perhaps the international community should have listened, but they didn't. Instead they supported elections that were run by a fraudulent electoral council, without the opposition. So if we are going to intervene, if we are going to pay for these elections, we must make sure they are elections that are fair, free and credible. And so far that is not the result.

Attorney Nicole Phillips traces the roots of Haiti's current electoral crisis to its last one, when Michael Martelly won office in deeply flawed elections pushed by international forces on an country weakened by an earthquake and cholera epidemic, and explains how Martelly's unconstitutional rule, halfway legitimized by the US, chokes any progress for building a system of fair and safe elections in Haiti.