RISING TENSIONS OVER LOOMING EXCLUSION OF LAVALAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 000119 SIPDIS STATE 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: 02/05/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ASEC HA SUBJECT: RISING TENSIONS OVER LOOMING EXCLUSION OF LAVALAS FROM ELECTIONS REF: PORT AU PRINCE 117 Classified By: CDA Thomas C. Tighe. Reason: E.O. 12958 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. Summary: (SBU) The publication of the list of approved candidates for the April Senate elections is imminent. In anticipation that the list will exclude all Fanmi Lavalas (FL) candidates, MINUSTAH is taking security precautions, Fanmi Lavalas leaders are beginning to protest, and the election authority is defending itself as a neutral, technical body that only applies the law. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Haiti's election authority, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP),is expected to publish February 5 or 6 the list of approved candidates for the April partial Senate elections. Suspicion is spreading that the list will exclude all Fanmi Lavalas (FL) candidates. (Reftel reports this is indeed the CEP's decision.) Fanmi Lavalas leaders are getting uneasy. FL Executive Committee member Maryse Narcisse complained to the press February 4 that her party had received a letter from the CEP reminding the party to complete their candidate registration files by 4:00 PM local time February 4, but that the letter gave no indication what documents were still needed. ¶3. (C) Narcisse ally Senator Rudy Heriveaux, who asserted privately to Embassy two weeks ago that President Preval had instructed the CEP to disallow all FL candidates, told PolCouns February 5 that he expects the imminent exclusion of his party from the Senate elections, a decision he condemned as illegal. PolCouns urged the Senator to work to preserve calm in the party. Heriveaux promised he would, but he also asked that the international community denounce the decision. ¶4. (SBU) The CEP is trying to defend itself as politically neutral. Echoing the CEP President and Director General's message to the Charge February 3 (reftel),CEP spokesman Frantz Bernadin declared to the press February 4 that the CEP is only a ''technical institution'' responsible for organizing the elections. He reiterated that candidates had until 4:00 PM that afternoon to complete their registration files. After that deadline, the CEP would decide which candidates satisfied the requirements of the law, and then publish the list. He confirmed that the CEP had sent the provisional candidate list to the Haitian National Police, the Ministries of Justice and Interior, and Haiti's immigration authorities for vetting, but did not indicate whether any of these authorities had developed derogatory information. ¶5. (C) MINUSTAH is already taking security precautions, cordoning off the street in front of CEP headquarters with troops and UN police as of the morning of February 5. MINUSTAH's Political Affairs office says it is pursuing urgent consultations with New York, and hopes to use the current visits to Haiti of European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel and the French Minister of Agriculture to urge the government to allow Fanmi Lavalas candidates to run. TIGHE