HAITI'S ELECTORAL AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE LAVALAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000117 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS AMBASSADOR SANDERSON STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM HA SUBJECT: HAITI'S ELECTORAL AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE LAVALAS CANDIDATES FROM SENATE ELECTIONS REF: PORT AU PRINCE 104 PORT AU PR 00000117 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson. Reason: E.O. 12958 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has decided to exclude all Fanmis Lavalas candidates from the upcoming Senate elections, based on a what Embassy and others believe is a strained reading of the electoral law, and the fact that two FL factions submitted competing candidate lists. A reconciliation of the competing Lavalas factions or other legal action by Lavalas leaders that would allow the CEP to reconsider is unlikely. The CEP is rushing to release the final list of all allowed candidates as early as February ¶4. The CEP did not consider the criminal pasts of a number of candidates from Lavalas and other parties, including celebrated drug runner and former anti-Aristide rebel Guy Philippe. This decision, if finalized, will provoke controversy and public protest. Lavalas leaders already have wind of the decision and accuse the CEP of trying to destroy their party. The CEP President claims Lavalas operatives have threatened his life. Charge and the Canadian Ambassador have urged the CEP to make the Senate elections as inclusive as possible. Emphasizing that excluding a major party could call into question the legitimacy of the elections. The CEP President privately accused the international community of making a mistake by supporting Fanmis Lavalas, and threatened to MINUSTAH that he would resign. There is growing criticism that the CEP is not impartial. End summary. CEP: Lavalas will not be allowed to Compete in Elections -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) CEP President Frantz Verret and Director Pierre-Louis Opont told Charge, PolCouns and Poloff February 3 that CEP has no choice but to reject all Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party candidates who registered for the April 12 partial Senate elections. In a defensive yet forceful presentation, they declared that since none of the FL candidates' registration documents bears the authorization of party leader Jean Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's electoral law dictates their exclusion. Opont said that the problem with FL registration is that the two factions - one led by FL Executive Committee head Maryse Narcisse and Senator Rudy Heriveaux, the other by former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune - both purport to represent the party, and that neither has the official imprimatur of FL leader Jean Betrand Aristide. ¶3. (C) The conflict between the two factions of FL has been underway for some time (reftel). Ministry of Justice Exume recently stipulated that the issue of representation is an internal party matter over which the MOJ has no jurisdiction. Exume referred the issue to the CEP and advised the CEP to be governed by the party's charter and the election law in making a final determination. ¶4. (C) Opont said that Article 94.L of the electoral law requires rejecting all FL candidates. (Note: This article states that to be certified by the CEP, each candidate must present an attestation establishing that he/she has been designated by a registered party to run for political office in a specific jurisdiction in conformance with that party's charter. End Note). Opont declared that no FL candidate has an attestation that satisfies the requirements of the FL charter, which requires that FL members running for office have official authorization from the head of FL, i.e., former President Jean Bertrand Aristide. ¶5. (C) Comment: The legal issues are complicated, but Embassy believes the CEP's reading of the law is strained. Article 49 of the Fanmis Lavalas Basic Law says that the ''national representative'' (i.e., the party leader, Aristide) organizes meetings with different party bodies to determine candidates. In an emergency, he is authorized to appoint candidates on his own authority. Nowhere does the statute require specific party leader authorization for each PORT AU PR 00000117 002.2 OF 003 candidate. End comment. ¶6. (C) Lacking papers signed by Aristide, Verret and Opont said they would accept any number of expedient solutions such as a written claim by either FL branch that it was acting in place of or as designated representatives of Aristide. Both adamantly declared they would respect only the law, and not succumb to the threat of street protests. They incongruously argued that accepting the candidates of one or the other FL faction without Aristide's blessing would expose the CEP and that faction to the street wrath of Aristide followers. They wanted to publish the candidate list by February 4, ostensibly to keep to their operational schedule, which requires solicitation of bids for ballot printing soon after that date. (Note: this appears to Embassy to be a pretext, since ballots will not have to be printed and distributed until weeks before the election. End note.) ¶7. (C) Charge asked whether the CEP had examined the statutes and papers of candidates from the other 32 parties. Opont said this had not been necessary, since their applications bore the signatures of their recognized party leaders. Asked about the presumed drug and criminal affiliations of several candidates from FL and other parties, including indicted drug traffickers and former anti-Aristide rebel Guy Philippe, Opont admitted that the CEP had not received a response to requests the CEP sent to the Ministries of Interior and Justice and the Haitian National Police. (Note: The electoral law requires that each candidate present a certificate of clean conduct from the Haitian National Police. End note.) Opont protested that only the Ministry of Justice could decide issues of criminal ineligibility. Yet later in the meeting, Opont reminded Charge that under Haitian law, the CEP is the ultimate judge and arbiter of all aspects of elections. ¶8. (C) Charge argued that the legal issues are not that clear. What is clear is that the credibility of the elections requires that they be as inclusive as possible. Excluding a major party will call the legitimacy of the elections into question, both in Haiti and among international donors. The Canadian Ambassador made the same points to Verret, Opont and several CEP councilors later the same day, and received the same intransigent message. Comment: CEP Feeling the Pressure -------------- ¶9. (C) Verret and Opont appeared uneasy during Charge's visit. Their alternately defensive and strident demeanor was out of character. Many political leaders see this CEP as subservient to President Preval. MINUSTAH reports that the CEP ''off the record'' admits that the National Palace, i.e., President Preval, instructed it to take this position on Fanmis Lavalas. ¶10. (SBU) If finalized, the decision to exclude Lavalas candidates will generate broad controversy. Barring a large party from a national election based on a questionable reading of the law, while passing other candidates known to have criminal records, will cast doubt on the CEP's credibility, which is already being questioned because of other factors (septel). Protests by FL partisans are likely. Senate President Kely Bastien told the press February 3 that while he respects the CEP's independence, the electoral body should make all parties including FL ''in front of their responsibilities'' in these elections. ¶11. (C) Verret is feeling the pressure from many sides. MINUSTAH Elections Affairs Section head Marc Plum (protect throughout) reported that Verret claimed that FL partisans had threatened him and other councilors with physical harm if they did not register FL candidates. In anticipation of the decision becoming public as early as February 4, he requested that same day that MINUSTAH deploy security forces around CEP PORT AU PR 00000117 003.2 OF 003 headquarters. CEP leaders are also meeting with the Ministry of Justice February 4 to discuss security. Plum told Polcouns February 3 that Verret, after his meeting with Charge and Canadian Ambassador that day, had phoned him in a desperate mood. He accused the international community of repeating its mistake of supporting Fanmis Lavalas ''criminals.'' Under no circumstances should this organization be allowed to run in the elections. Plum reported that Verret said he was prepared to resign. TIGHE