Leslie François Saint Roc Manigat (16 August 1930 - 27 June 2014) was elected president of Haiti by a tightly controlled military held election in January 1988. 

Early life

Leslie François Saint Roc Manigat was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on 16 August 1930.

Career

Leslie Manigat is also an educator.  He was a professor at the prestigious l'Université de Paris-VIII Vincennes where he gave courses on World History.  He also published articles on education in various Haitian Newspapers: Le Nouvelliste, La Phalange, Le Matin.

His political career began in the 50 years the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Supporting the application and the ideology of Francois Duvalier in 1957, he founded in 1958 at the request of the latter the School of International Studies and was its first director.  However, in the early '60s, his relationship with the President of 22 September 1957 deteriorated to the point where he was prosecuted by the government.  Accused of supporting the student strikes of the early 60s, he was imprisoned for two months in 1963 before going into exile and settled in particular the United States, France and Venezuela.

Known for his strong knowledge of history and expertise in matters relating to international relations, he was called to teach at several universities including the John Hopkins University in Baltimore Maryland (United States), the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, the West Universities Indies in Trinidad, the Yale University (for a brief period) and the University of Caracas that bears the name of Universidad Central de Venezuela.

In exile, he sided with the opposition and became, in the 70's, a fierce activist, activism that led him to found in 1979 in Venezuela the Rally of National Progressive Democrats (NPDR).  After the fall of Duvalier home 6 February 1986, as many fellow who campaigned in opposition from the outside, Leslie Francois Manigat said the way home with the idea of ​​bringing its share in the process of democracy was thought to begin 7 February 1986.  He marched under the banner of his party, presidential candidate in the presidential elections to be held 29 November 1987.  When the CNG, based on violence and killing in a polling station, annulled the elections and had the audacity to dissolve once the CEP, Manigat refused to openly criticize the National Council of Government, and left even suggested that the CEP had its share of responsibility for the fiasco.

According to the Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil Electoral Provisoire, or CEP) he won the presidential election of 17 January 1988 with 50.29% of the votes, defeating ten other candidates.  However, voter turnout was well under 10%.  Few historians and vote monitors consider this election to have been democratic.  He was inaugurated on 7 February 1988, and named Martial Célestin as his Prime Minister in March.  He was overthrown by Gen.  Henri Namphy on 20 June 1988 in the June 1988 Haitian coup d'état.  He ran for president again in the February 2006 election but was defeated, receiving 12.40% of the vote and placing a distant second behind René Préval‎.

Honours and awards

Leslie Manigat won The Haiti Grand Prize of literature 2004, given at the Miami Book Fair International of 2004. Nominees for the Prize were: Edwidge Danticat, René Depestre, Jean-Claude Fignolé, Odette Roy-Fombrun, Frankétienne, Gary Klang, Dany Laferrière and Josaphat-Robert Large.

Personal life

His wife Mirlande Manigat, was a candidate in the 2010 presidential election.

Death

Leslie Manigat died on 27 June 2014, aged 83.