A friend of mine on Facebook put me on the spot to state the candidate I would vote for in this election about to take place in Haiti if I were able to vote. This is the first time someone has ever done this to me –pou m afiche m je klè, kidonk san voye wòch kache men. Without making a formal and official endorsement, I answer her like this:
Despite my disagreement with Martelly’s economic plan, which I think is socialistic to some extent and is going to stall competition on the market, if I were to choose between him and Manigat, the two options we have now left on the table to choose from, for what the country needs at this juncture, he would get my vote. Why him?
He may not be as intellectual as Manigat, but I see in him someone who could bring our already torn and divided country together -regardless of creed, religion, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, ethnicity, age, gender, etc… -and motivate and inspire us to do what needs to get done.
I also see in him someone who does not play; he means business. He is not someone to mess with, for he will go after you, embarrass you publicly, and bring you to justice.
He also seems to be a person of discipline, attention to detail and meticulousness. You give him a task to work on, he will assemble a team of experts or problem solvers to get it done in a timely manner. On top of all that, he seems to be a person of consistency, which means a whole lot to me.
Lastly, he seems to be a people person, someone -if you go down in the mud by accident -to take his jacket and tie off and fold up the legs of his pants and the sleeves of his shirt to go down and get you out of there. In other words, he is a person of very few complexes; he is not uppity and presumptuous.
Those are the attributes I notice in his personality which would definitely make me cast my vote for him. He seems to have what our beloved Haiti needs to reverse the state of freefall she has been in for 25 years. He will not be able to do anything if we (ALL of us Haitians) don’t stand with and by him. He is only the leader to show us the way. But we still need to follow his leadership, get down and do what needs to get done. So Martelly would definitely get my vote.
Ekspoze! -The final word 
@Emann Is Martelly the lesser evil? Do you actually think he is competent enough to run a university like Rutgers or Montclair State? If he isn’t capable of doing so, I don’t think he is ready to be our next president
What does being a university president have to do with being competent to run a country? Obama was not a university president to show proof that he could lead the US before the American people voted him in office. Having leadership attributes is exactly what people look at to make the inference that you could be a successful leader.
Like Manigat, you could be placed in a leadership position and fail to deliver. As the leader of RDNP, she failed to prepare a new generation of leaders to lead the party to victory. So she is a failure.
On the other hand, if I were able to vote on that election, I would cast my vote for Martelly. He is obviously the lesser evil and beside I am sick and tired of those old people running the country the old way…
@Emann As I already mentioned, it is shameful that Martelly and Manigat are the best remedy that we can prescribe for Haiti in such a crucial moment. Once again, history will never ever forgive us for that. Only in our little world that such a thing can be possible. We have lowered our standard to the lowest possible point ever. What would Toussaint say? Obama was not a university president but he has the credential to be. How about Martelly? What qualified him to be the president of Haiti? I am almost sure Martelly himself wasn’t even serious about his own candidacy until he saw the opportunity to really win this, (se an jwet yo te batize jwif). The key word to remember is opportunity, that makes Martelly an opportunist.