Fanmi Lavalas (; ''lavalas'' is

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; , ; , ), or simply Creole (), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it ...

for '

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

' or '

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

' ) is a social-democratic

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. Its leader is former Haitian President

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theo ...

. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1991. Fanmi Lavalas governments advocate a policy of "growth with equity" based on Western European

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

principles. Fanmi Lavalas governments have emphasised investment in education and health care as their priorities and have refused

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

austerity measure In economic policy, austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: high ...

History

Lavalas emerged as a powerful social movement in the late 1980s, and it backed Jean Bertrand Aristide's election campaign in 1990. The establishment of the Lavalas movement as a formal political party, renamed Fanmi Lavalas, took place in 1996 as a split by Aristide from the Struggling People's Party (OPL) over the question of his resumption of the three years he lost in exile following the 1991 coup Two main reasons for its creation are known: (1) to allow the Lavalas movement to remain inclusive while opposing the

neo-liberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

policies of the foreign-influenced OPL, which was one of the conditions for Aristide's return to power in 1994; (2) to prevent rival politicians from taking over the movement's leadership from Aristide and other more left-wing leaders. The

Haitian military The Armed Forces of Haiti (, ) are the military forces of the Republic of Haiti, is composed of the Haitian Army, the Haitian Navy, the Haitian Aviation Corps and also the BSAP. The Force has about 2000 active personnel as of 2023, with the army ...

overthrew Aristide's first government in 1991. "Fanmi Lavalas" may be roughly translated into English as "Avalanche Family" or "Waterfall Family" (referring to the Biblical flood), but the name is almost never completely translated from

, although it is sometimes given as "Lavalas Family". It was registered officially as a political party on 30 October 1996, and on 14 February 1997 it was recognized by the electoral authorities.

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

were set for 2006 by the Interim Government, which was established by the governments of Canada, the US, and France. Certain members of Fanmi Lavalas claimed that

Marc Bazin Marc Louis Bazin (; March 6, 1932 – June 16, 2010) was a World Bank official, former United Nations functionary and Haitian Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier. He was prime minister of Haiti appointed ...

was the Lavalas candidate. However, its grassroots supporters overwhelmingly supported

René Garcia Préval René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

in his campaign as president. Lavalas candidates boycotted the election for the most part, but its voters supported the emergence of Preval's

Lespwa Fwon Lespwa was a Haitian political coalition headed by René Préval, who served as president from 1996 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2011. The name ''Lespwa'' is the Haitian Creole form of the French ''l'espoir'', meaning "hope". The coalition's fu ...

party. The results of the election of the 7 February and 21 April 2006

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

are not available.

Election exclusion

The performance of the Fanmi Lavalas party in Haitian elections has been difficult to measure since the 2004 coup d'état that toppled it from power as it has been repeatedly excluded from the democratic process. It was again excluded from participation in the

2010–2011 Haitian general election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

by the electoral council after the candidates did not receive the necessary votes.''Haitian President Marks Independence With Pledge of Fair Elections''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

2015 presidential and legislative election

CEP accepted Lavalas' request to contest election in the

2015 election Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African g ...

. In highly controversial elections that were forced to be rerun due to credible charges of electoral fraud, the party's presidential candidate, Maryse Narcisse only received 110,449 votes, or 7.32% of popular votes. The party's legislature candidates received 5 seat out of 85 already elected seats in the 2015 parliamentary election, a second round will be held in December 27. The process and outcome of the 2015-2016 elections are still seen as controversial and are widely viewed as having damaged the credibility of the government of President Jovenel Moise and the

Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale Parti may refer to: *Parti (service), an online video platform, web hosting, livestreaming, and cloud services business. *Parti (surname), a Hungarian surname, and a list of people with the name * ''Parti'' (architecture), the organizing concepts b ...

(Bald-head party).

Members of Committee

Youseline Augustin Bell - Committee of Finance, Jacob François - Commission of Information, Majolie Zéphirin - Commission of Information, Jean Luc Bell - Commission of Youth. Members: Louis Bonnet, Ernst Montoban, Jerry Jean Louis, Jean Pierre Barthol, Gary Servius, Claudine Janvier, Philippe André Jacques, Bazelais François, Fritz Péan, Roosevelt Goguette, Abel Moise, Vital Tholerme, Bellefleur Jean, Romane Joseph, Jean Elie Pierre-Louis, Rivière Dantès, Tony Désir, André Joseph

References

External links

Fanmi Lavalas Commission of CommunicationHaiti: Fanmi Lavalas Banned, Voter Apprehension Widespread
Inter Press Service, April 2008, Jeb Sprague.
The Fanmi Lavalas Political Project - Review of three books
NACLA Report on the Americas. November–December 2008. Issue Vol. 41, No. 6. By Jeb Sprague. {{Haitian political parties 1996 establishments in Haiti Political parties established in 1996 Political parties in Haiti Shack dwellers' movements Social democratic parties in North America Socialism in Haiti