Prime Minister Ariel Henry marked the first anniversary of the disputed end of Moïse’s constitutional term by flatly rejecting the Montana Accord’s transitional government framework, calling it a distraction from the real work of organizing elections and dismissing Fritz Jean’s election as transitional president as having no legal or political legitimacy. Henry’s defiance was backed by continued international support that left the Montana coalition without the leverage to translate its moral argument into political reality.
Henry insisted that his mandate was to organize general elections and that he would fulfil this commitment, though he acknowledged that the security situation made near-term elections extremely difficult. He called on all political actors to participate in a consensus-building process under his government’s leadership rather than pursuing parallel political structures that he argued only deepened Haiti’s instability.
The Montana coalition maintained its position, arguing that Henry’s government lacked the constitutional legitimacy and the popular trust needed to organize credible elections, and that any elections organized under his sole authority would lack the broad political buy-in needed to produce a legitimate outcome. They argued that a genuine consensus transitional government was a prerequisite for elections that could actually restore democratic governance.
The standoff between Henry and the Montana coalition would continue throughout 2022, representing one of the defining political fault lines of a year in which Haiti’s governance crisis deepened further. The international community’s continued support for Henry, despite his lack of constitutional legitimacy and the assassination investigation cloud, remained a source of profound frustration for those who argued that genuine democratic recovery required a different approach.