SENATE APPROVES ALEXIS, DEPUTIES VOTE PENDING

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 000945 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR DRL S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) TREASURY FOR JEFFREY LEVINE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2011 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HA SUBJECT: SENATE APPROVES ALEXIS, DEPUTIES VOTE PENDING REF: A. PAUP 938 ¶B. PAUP 936 ¶C. PAUP 847 Classified By: Ambassador Janet Sanderson for reason 1.4(b). ¶1. (SBU) The senate on the afternoon of May 25 approved the nomination of Jacques Edouard Alexis by a vote of 20 to 4. The OPL bloc of four voted against Alexis, according to press reports. The vote in the chamber of deputies is pending. Alexis told the Ambassador today (May 25) that he was confident the chamber would approve his nomination by Friday; he was already in intensive discussions with President Preval regarding the members of his cabinet. Senior Preval advisor Alix Fils-Aime and Lavalas parliamentarians on May 24 told Polcouns and Poloff in separate conversations that they expected the deputies and the Preval team to conduct serious negotiations with regard to the composition of the cabinet and that the chamber would vote on the nomination by the end of Friday. ¶2. (C) Fils-Aime acknowledged that the Preval team understood that it would have include ministers supported by various parties in order to secure approval for Alexis. The parties should put their suggestions forward and that Preval and Alexis would judge them on their qualifications. Fils-Aime suggested that the likely scenario was that main blocs in the chamber of deputies would support Alexis in exchange for an agreement in principle on a certain number of ministerial slots. Alexis would then head up the negotiations on the formation of the cabinet the following week. Fils-Aime added that Preval would insist that some ministries remain within his purview. Polcouns suggested that this sounded like normal political give-and-take; "exactly," responded Fils-Aime. He expressed confidence that Alexis would win final approval from the parliament by Friday. ¶3. (SBU) Fils-Aime also stressed that Preval's approach to the parliament continued to center around the priorities of developing the technical and institutional capacities of the senate and the chamber, and maintaining the constitutional integrity of all branches of government. (Preval advisor Robert Manuel outlined the same program to the Ambassador the previous week, per ref A.) Preval would continue to work on improving working conditions for the parliament, including the construction of a new National Assembly building. He had already sent over a team of technical advisors to assist parliament in budget preparations. ¶4. (C) Lavalas deputies told Poloff that they had added additional members to their bloc, which now totaled 39 of the 88 deputies (ref B). They lamented that Chamber President Jean-Jacques (L'Espwa) had succeeded in hand-picking the committee members who would initially evaluate Alexis' nomination, thus the pro-Alexis group would likely dominate the discussion. Their bloc would follow the general mood of the national assembly and vote in favor of Alexis if Preval's team were sufficiently forthcoming. They stressed, however, that the entire cabinet and Alexis' program faced a vote of confidence subsequent to his initial approval, and that their bloc would at that point stand firm in holding out for their demands, if necessary. ¶5. (C) Comment. Haitian political observers judge that the senate successfully punted the final decision on Alexis over to the chamber of deputies, where the blocs prepared to press their demands on Preval were better organized. Senate President Joseph Lambert, whatever his past (ref C),has demonstrated some leadership abilities in his first full week, delivering on his promise to approve Alexis within 72 hours of the nomination. SANDERSON