SENATORS EXTEND TERMS INTO NEW SESSION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000106

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SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR
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SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/16/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HA
SUBJECT: SENATORS EXTEND TERMS INTO NEW SESSION OF
PARLIAMENT

REF: 07 PORT AU PRINCE 1853

PORT AU PR 00000106 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).


1. (C) Summary: The new session of the National Assembly
began January 14. Since Senate elections have yet to be
held, a decision had to be made whether the ten lame-duck
two-year senators would depart on January 14 or remain in
their office a full two years, until May 2008. The Senate,
President Preval and political parties found a dubious middle
way, agreeing January 12 to allow the ten senators up for
re-election to remain in office until the passage of the new
electoral law governing the next senate elections. Issues of
Senate functionality will arise if senatorial elections are
not completed by May 8, the two-year anniversary of the ten
senators' taking office. End summary.

Legal Parameters
--------------


2. (U) Per the Haitian Constitution of 1987, senators serve
6-year terms, renewed in thirds every two years. However,
the entire current body of the Senate was elected in 2006, as
the Parliament had been defunct prior to that election. Per
the Electoral Decree of February 3, 2005 (signed by the
Interim Government),the senators elected in 2006 were
elected to six, four and two-year terms -- according to the
number of votes received in their departments -- to
kick-start the rotational election cycle. In future, all
senators will hold the constitutionally-mandated 6-year term.
Senate terms typically begin on the second Monday of January
at the opening session of the National Assembly (the Senate
and the Chamber of Deputies together). In order for the
Senate to install ten new (or reelected) senators January 14,
elections for those seats needed to take place by November

2007. To date, those elections have yet to be scheduled.

Agreement Allows Peaceful Senate Opening
--------------


3. (C) Senators and political party leaders met with
President Preval January 11 and 12 to decide on a game plan
for the National Assembly opening. The meetings resulted in
a joint declaration by political party leaders and senators
defining the terms of the two-year senators as ending when
Parliament passes the electoral law governing the next senate
elections. The senate passed a resolution to the same effect
the morning of January 14, just prior to the National
Assembly's opening ceremony. The resolution states that the
two-year senators ''will continue to exercise their functions
until the final vote of the electoral law,'' with the caveat
that this is ''with the understanding that the vote will take
place before May 8, 2008,'' the two-year anniversary of their
installation as senators.


4. (C) In addition, the resolution ''encourages and
presses'' the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to finish
the electoral law so that the Executive Branch can submit it
to parliament. It also includes an article vowing the Senate
will give priority to the vote on that law. Senator Rudolph
Boulos (Fusion, Northeast) told Ambassador January 14 that he
now plans to take an active role in moving the electoral law
forward. If necessary, the Senate will take the CEP draft
electoral law as is and make the necessary changes
themselves, according to Boulos. (Note: This would break
with the legislature's studied passivity: to date it has
only voted on bills received from the Executive. End note.)

Outcome Unpredictable Until the 11th Hour
--------------


5. (C) Before January 14, President Preval supported the
interpretation that the two-year senators' terms ended the
day the new session of the National Assembly opened. As late
as January 10, momentum in the Senate was building in support
of that position. Senate President Joseph Lambert (Lespwa,
Southeast) told Poloff January 8 that the Senate as a whole
had decided the two-year senators would not/not remain in

PORT AU PR 00000106 002.2 OF 002


office after that date. Minister of Parliamentary Relations
Joseph Jasmin told Poloffs January 10 that Preval and the
rest of the executive branch believed the senators' mandates
had come to term. Jasmin inserted the caveat, however, that
Preval, senators and political party leaders would discuss
the issue, and that Preval was open to any consensus solution.


6. (C) The uncertain situation had engendered arguments that
extending the senators' terms would set a bad precedent,
leaving the door open for other elected officials --
including the four- and six-year Senators and President
Preval himself -- to remain in office beyond the end of their
terms. (Note: Preval has repeatedly said he will not try to
stay a full five years, but will step down on February 7,
2011 as required by Article 134-1 of the Constitution. End
note.) Popular political parties Fusion and OPL (Struggling
People's Party) publicly and privately opposed extension of
senators' terms, arguing that such a step would further
derail Haiti's elections cycle. Additionally, several
two-year senators had already announced their intention to
step down on January 14, but have since had to retract those
statements.


7. (C) On the other side of the argument, prominent
supporters of continuing the terms of the two-year senators
until May 2008 were pro-Aristide party Fanmi Lavalas (FL)as
well as Senator Youri Latortue's Artibonite in Action (LAAA).
Senator Rudy Herivaux (FL, West Department) told Poloff
January 12 that FL was concerned that the departure of the
ten senators would render a quorum virtually impossible,
given the Senate's frequent inability to garner the 16
senators necessary for a quorum even when there were 29 of
them, as now. Additionally, Herivaux believed the presence
or absence of those 10 senators would affect the outcome of
elections for Senate leadership (septel).


8. (C) Comment: The legal issue of the length of the
two-year senators' mandates was brought on by two tardy
elections (the 2006 legislative elections and the
still-to-be-held Senate elections this year),compounded by
ambiguous definitions of legislators' terms in the 1987
constitution. That document links the start of deputies'
terms to the beginning of the legislative session (second
Monday of January) but lays down no such link for the Senate,
which is in continuous session. Answering this question by a
simple resolution of one house of the legislature is an
expedient stopgap that brings no legal or constitutional
clarity to the issue. The problem is virtually certain to
arise again in 2010 and 2012 when the four-year and six-year
senators' terms expire. Moreover, the Senate will be left
with 11 empty seats (the ten two-year senators plus that of
one who died in office) if the electoral law is not passed by
May 8, the two-year mark for the terms of the ten senators in
question. All eyes now are on both chambers' expedited
handling of the new electoral law needed to get senate
elections moving, a draft of which has yet to be submitted to
the legislature.
SANDERSON