Preval Ponders Continued Use of Emergency Power

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000148

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO MARR PREL PINR AMGT HA PGOV AID
EAID
SUBJECT: Preval Ponders Continued Use of Emergency Power


1. (SBU) On January 16, four days after the earthquake,
President Preval declared a state of national emergency and assumed
the extraordinary powers granted to the Executive by the "Law on
the State of Emergency." The powers allow the Executive to enter
into contracts, exercise eminent domain and take other actions in
response to a natural disaster without consulting Parliament.
Preval's authority under this emergency law will expire on February
16 unless Parliament grants an extension. Prime Minister Bellerive
told members of the donors' coordination mechanism on February 8
that relations between the Parliament, which is controlled by the
opposition, and the Executive have turned confrontational since the
earthquake and Preval cannot count on Parliament to extend the
Executive's emergency powers. Bellerive said that after February
16 the GOH will have to choose between continuing to exercise
emergency powers beyond the time established in the "Law on the
State of Emergency," or face gridlock as it would have to negotiate
all disaster response needs with a fractious and obstructionist
legislature. The situation is further muddled by the fact that the
constitutional mandate of the lower house of Parliament expired on
December 31, 2009 and the sitting Parliament is operating solely on
the basis of their own vote to extend their mandate through May,
2010, which violates the constitution. The terms of two-thirds of
the members of the Senate have not expired. President Preval
continues to enjoy support of a tenuous majority in the Senate, but
the Senate cannot pass laws without the corresponding vote in the
lower chamber.




2. (SBU) "The Law on the State of Emergency" provides that:

* During a period of emergency caused by a natural
catastrophe (to include earthquakes),the President has the
authority to declare a "State of Emergency" for a period of 15
days. The President may extend this 15-day period for another
15-day period. However, beyond the second extension, the state of
emergency can be renewed only with agreement by Parliament, and
only for periods of 30 days at a time.



* If Parliament is not in session, the President may call
them into session to consider the agreement.



* During the state of emergency, the powers of the
President are extremely broad and include the authority to:

a. Pay all necessary expenses without taking into account the
budget or the procedures established by statutes for making such
expenditures;

b. Sign necessary contracts without the procedure requiring
bidding for public contracts;

c. Order the closing of businesses;

d. Order the removal of persons to other areas;

e. Control access to streets;

f. Establish financial assistance programs for victims;

g. Appropriate private property to supplement relief and
housing efforts if the government does not have sufficient
resources to provide them;

h. Reinforce the means of providing security in the affected
area;

i. Take measures to shelter displaced persons, and to order
the construction, destruction or removal of property from the
affected area; and

j. Take any measure allowing him to resolve the situation
("prendre toutes autres mesures permettant de faire face a la
situation." ).




3. (SBU) COMMENT: Faced with the choice of continuing to

exercise emergency powers beyond the period stipulated by law or
giving an unconstitutional Parliament veto power over important
disaster response actions, Bellerive appears inclined to do the
former and was putting the international community on notice that
the GOH did not have any perfect choices in this situation. He
appealed for international community comprehension and support,
noting that governments in Haiti (including his two predecessors)
have fallen as a result of lesser confrontations with Parliament.



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