Fanmi Lavalas Excluded from Elections, but Given Another

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000994

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR AID HA
SUBJECT: Fanmi Lavalas Excluded from Elections, but Given Another
Chance

REF: PORT-AU-PRINCE 972


1. (SUB) Summary. Early 25 November the Provisional
Electoral Council (CEP) withdrew its earlier, provisional,
authorization for former President Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas to
register candidates for February's parliamentary elections, due to
inconsistent and insufficient documentation. At the international
community's behest, the CEP agreed to give Lavalas an extension
until 30 November to provide the required documentation. End
summary.




2. (U) At the end of the political party registration period
that ended November 24, 69 political parties registered with the
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to participate in the
parliamentary elections. On November 25, the CEP announced that 40
of the registrations were accepted. Most notable and surprising
among the rejected registrations was Fanmi Lavalas (FL),which the
CEP had provisionally accepted last week after receiving two
letters (one PDF copy and one original hard copy) from former
president Jean-Bertrand Aristide that designated Dr. Maryse
Narcisse as the official FL representative (reftel). The CEP
rejected the letters and the FL registration because of differences
between the two copies and because Aristide's signature lacked
proper authentication (i.e., it was not signed before a notary or
consular officer in South Africa).




3. (SBU) On November 25, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive
held a meeting with the Ambassadors/Charge's from the U.S., Canada,
Spain, France, European Community (EC) and Brazil, along with the
leaders of the UNDP and MINUSTAH, to discuss elections funding.
Also present were the president and the director general of the
CEP. The meeting agenda soon moved from the budget to the subject
of FL. In an energetic discussion, the ambassadors from the EC,
Canada, Spain and U.S. challenged the wisdom of the CEP's decision
and argued for inclusion of FL suggesting that 1) FL's exclusion
made it more difficult to convince their respective capitols that
Haiti's electoral process is transparent and deserves financial
support and 2) FL's perceived strength rests largely on its
exclusion from the electoral process. While the CEP leadership
was predictably defensive in response, Bellerive was surprisingly
supportive. In the end, the CEP president agreed to allow FL to
submit another letter, properly authenticated, no later than the
deadline for the registration of individual candidates, which is
Monday, November 30. (Comment: This extended deadline for FL is a
two-edged sword. The decision provides FL with another chance for
inclusion. However, if candidates register under the FL banner and
the CEP rejects a new Aristide letter on technical grounds or the
letter does not arrive, they will not have the opportunity to
register as independent candidates. End comment.)




4. (SBU) MINUSTAH agreed to quickly communicate the CEP's
decision to Narcisse, with whom it has been in frequent contact.
Also of note, this afternoon a Haiti radio station broadcast a
statement from Aristide, who complained about FL's exclusion from
the elections. Post will advise as events continue to develop.
MERTEN