LAMBERT ON JEAN-JACQUES' VICTORY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000146 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM HA SUBJECT: LAMBERT ON JEAN-JACQUES' VICTORY REF: PAP 88 PORT AU PR 00000146 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Chamber of Deputies President Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques (Lespwa - Delmas, West) took advantage of the disorganization among the larger political parties and grouped together the smaller political parties to win his second term, according to Senate President Joseph Lambert. Despite Prime Minister Alexis' role in shifting Lespwa support to another candidate, Jean Felix Delouis, for the chamber presidency, Jean-Jacques and the PM immediately patched-up their differences and Jean-Jacques will likely resist any move to bring a vote of no confidence against the PM. Lambert will remain at the head of the senate without calling new leadership elections, after fending off pressure to resign from senate opponents in private meetings. With the ineffectual Jean-Jacques back at the helm of the chamber and Lambert secure in his own position, he cements his status as the most powerful and influential Haitian parliamentarian. Underlying Jean-Jacques' re-election are rampant reports that he bought the victory. End Summary. Smaller Parties Give Jean-Jacques the Win -------------- ¶2. (C) Lambert confirmed reports in a conversation with Poloff on January 19 that Jean-Jacques won the chamber presidency because no political party or bloc could agree on an alternative (ref A). He acknowledged Fusion, Alyans, and OPL efforts to ally on behalf of FUSION candidate Frantz Robert Monde, but reported that OPL "hostilities" toward Monde had fractured the alliance, and that in the end only the Fusion members remained on board. (Comment: Other Haitian political observers report that Monde remains controversial because of his role as the principal parliamentary apologist for the 1991 military coup. End Comment.) With the larger parties unable to maintain discipline on behalf of a consensus candidate, Jean-Jacques, with the help of Famni Lavalas deputy Sorel Francois (Port-au-Prince, West),rallied the members of the smaller political parties and acquired enough of the fragmented votes of the larger parties. ¶3. (C) Lambert reported that Jean-Jacques was "disappointed" that the PM and Lespwa did not support his re-election, but this had not affected his relationship with the PM. Jean-Jacques and the PM held a meeting on the evening of January 18 to patch-up their differences, and, as a result Lambert discounted the possibility of a vote of no confidence against Alexis in the chamber. Lambert Foils his Opponents -------------- ¶4. (C) Nineteen senators on January 9 signed a resolution seeking new elections for the senate leadership. The resolution charged that the current leadership lacks direction, that the treasurer is ineffectual, and that there is no communication between the leadership and the other senators. Senate rules that designate two-year mandates for its officers notwithstanding, Lambert and the others should resign. Privately, senators accused Lambert of breaking his word when first elected, claiming he agreed to step down after one year because of vacancies in the senate (subsequently filled with the election of three senators from the Northeast Department in December's elections). Senate Vice President Edmonde Supplice-Beauzile (Fusion ) Center), however, maintained that Lambert's opponents sought to block a senate investigation into a scandal regarding the looting of a Haitian bank, telling Poloff on January 18 that the senate's executive office would not be complicit in blocking the investigation. (Note: Socabank, a private bank set up in the mid-1990's, was on the verge of insolvency after bank executives and others allegedly looted its assets. The Haitian central bank (BRH) took over the bank at the end of 2006 in order to avert a banking crisis. Post will report fully on Socabank septel. End note.) ¶5. (C) Lambert insisted he will remain in his post until PORT AU PR 00000146 002.2 OF 002 January 2008. He related that he met privately with his leading detractors, Famni Lavalas Senator Rudy Herivaux, Artibonite in Action (LAAA) Senator Youri Latortue, and Pont Senator Evalliere Beauplan, reminding them that he knew many of their "shortcomings" but had not disclosed them nor discussed their "wrong doings." For example, he stated to Poloff that Herivaux is implicated in the Socabank scandal and that Herivaux and his Fanmi Lavalas colleagues had approached him about paying former Lavalas parliamentarians from the current parliament budget. Lambert and the senate treasurer refused. Other senators had presented travel documents for personal trips for reimbursement by the government. In the end, the senators backed down, knowing that their position had diminished. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Lambert's account of his meeting with opposing senators is self-serving, but there are undoubtedly enough skeletons in everyone's closet to make Lambert's point hit home. Once again, Lambert has put on display his considerable political savvy and buttressed his position as Haiti's most powerful politician. ¶7. (C) Comment Continued. Left out of Lambert's account of Jean-Jacques' re-election are the rampant rumors that Jean-Jacques bought his victory. A leading businessman recently told Econcouns that Jean-Jacques "is a notorious drug king-pin and paid $5,000 to each deputy who voted for him." SRSG Mulet told the Core Group ambassadors on January 22 that he had credible information that Jean-Jacques had paid $20,000 per vote and that Jean-Jacques' son had provided cars to at least two supporters. We do not discount the possibility of blatant corruption determining the outcome of the chamber presidency race, but since Jean-Jacques is neither a particular friend or foe of Preval and Alexis, and otherwise appears to have no political agenda, we wonder what might motivate him to expend resources to secure a job for which he has shown little interest so far. In any event, though Jean-Jacques' and his son's questionable business connections were not the subject of much gossip after his initial election as chamber president, the issue is now front and center in Haitian politics. SANDERSON