PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO DITHER ON PROVISIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001931 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA) STATE PLEASE PASS AMBASSADOR SANDERSON SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PAS AID FOR LAC/CAR TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL HA SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO DITHER ON PROVISIONAL ELECTORAL COUNCIL REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1853 PORT AU PR 00001931 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Thomas C. Tighe. Reason: E.O. 12958 1.4 (b),(d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) President Preval has yet to make the final appointments of counselors of the reconstituted Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). He continues to quibble with certain social sectors he called on to nominate persons to sit on this body. After rejecting one private sector nominee, the President turned to two additional groups for nominees -- "popular organizations" and groups representing the handicapped -- with little legal precedent for either. The new CEP apparently will have the mandate to organize the upcoming Senate elections and the indirect elections. The longer this process drags on, the later elections for one-third of the Senate will be held, and the greater the danger of a void arising in Senate ranks. Sources in MINUSTAH differ over the length of time it will require to pull off the elections, but the earliest possible date is now moving past March and into mid-spring of 2008. End summary. CEP Consultations Continue -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Embassy heard from Presidential Chief of Staff Fritz Longchamp November 26 that the list of counselors for the new Provisional CEP was just about ready and would be announced in a matter of days. This has not yet happened. Since late November, the President has expanded the number of social "sectors" he is consulting to staff the new Provisional Electoral Council. The President accepted one private sector nominee, Jacque Bernard, for the post of CEP Director General. (Note: The DG does not sit on the Council but acts as the CEP's executive manager. Bernard served as CEP DG for Haiti's Presidential/legislative and local elections. End note.) It has long been known that Preval opposed the other private sector nominee, current CEP counselor and acting Director General Francois Benoit. We have heard that once Preval's rejection of Benoit became clear, private sector leaders remonstrated with Preval about being excluded from the CEP -- so far without success. ¶3. (SBU) Preval then proceeded to think up two additional "sectors" to canvass for nominees: "popular organizations" and organizations representing the handicapped. "Popular organizations" are local self-help groups in poor urban areas that in the past were harnessed by the political campaigns of Aristide and Preval, but which now have fallen on harder times, are weak and represent no single social interest. There is some historical precedent for consulting with them on the CEP, but none for consulting the handicapped. President Preval appears to have a genuine concern for the plight of the handicapped, who are said to constitute nearly 10 percent of Haiti's population, and who suffer from broad social exclusion. An Excluded Sector: Voodoo -------------- ¶4. (U) With the President having consulted such diverse groups in putting together the ultimate arbiter of Haiti's elections, it was perhaps inevitable that some would protest they were being left out. After three religious groups -- Catholics, Protestants, and Anglicans -- were allowed to submit nominations for the CEP, there was a small demonstration in front of the National Palace December 6 by practioners of voodoo. They vociferously demanded in front of TV cameras that President Preval allow them to participate in the formation of the CEP, which was only fitting given that voodoo is an official religion in Haiti. Mandate of the new Provisional CEP -------------- PORT AU PR 00001931 002.2 OF 002 ¶5. (SBU) All Embassy sources agree that the mandate of the new (and still Provisional) CEP will include the elections for one-third of the Senate and the indirect elections for municipal and departmental councils -- which all culminate in the selection of a Permanent CEP, and which should finally free Haiti of the political wrangling surrounding this organization. However, Senate President Joseph Lambert told Ambassador that a series of new electoral laws will be needed to govern the process of indirect elections, and that this process will take up to a year and a half. However, Lambert has told us in the past that indirect elections could happen under the existing 1997 law, arguing that it was under those rules that Lambert himself was elected to the departmental assembly for the Southeast. Additionally, Jacques Bernard has repeatedly argued that no new legislation is needed to conduct the indirect elections. President Preval is known to oppose holding the indirect elections. New Names -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Additional nominations that have emerged since reftel are: -- Catholic Church: Frantz Verette, head of an NGO focused on low-cost housing programs. -- Women's Organizations: Ginette Cherubin (former Minister of Women's Affairs) and Francoise Boursiquot (member of a former CEP) -- "Popular Organizations:" Rodolphe Pierre, former independent candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, who MINUSTAH says is now close to Lavalas. -- Handicapped: the "National Associative Network for Reintegration of Handicapped Persons" nominated Gayot Dorsainvil, a person who works with handicapped persons but is not handicapped himself. Senate Election Date Receding -------------- ¶7. (SBU) MINUSTAH sources say the Senate election will take at least 120 days to organize, plus days lost to the Christmas, New Years, and Carnival celebrations. Yet MINUSTAH is confident that elections by May at the latest are feasible. There remains the issue of when the mandates of the two-year Senators expire. Many believe they should expire with the convocation of the new National Assembly on January 14, 2008, but that would leave their seats empty until the Senate elections are held. "Fusion" spokesperson Micha Gaillard told Poloff December 5 that Fusion strongly opposes (and always had) an extension of the terms of the two-year Senators, and he implied that "civil society" and major human rights organizations were of the same opinion. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice, Defense and Security, Youri Latortue submitted a resolution December 4 proposing that the Senate extend the expiring mandates to the second Monday of May, 2008. The logic is that these Senators entered office in May 2006 after a delayed election. The outcome of the Senate's legislating on what should be a constitutional issue is unpredictable. TIGHE