VZCZCXRO1309
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0126/01 0251448
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251448Z JAN 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7556
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1765
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1573
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0996
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1404
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000126 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: HA KDEM PGOV PREL
SUBJECT: HAITI,S NEW SENATE LEADERSHIP: A TALE OF TWO CAMPS 
 
REF: 07 PORT AU PRINCE 1853 
 
PORT AU PR 00000126  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please 
protect accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an open session on January 17, the 
Senate unanimously elected Senator Kely Bastien (Lespwa, 
North) as the new President of the Senate.  The Senate 
leadership elections polarized that body, with former Senate 
President Joseph Lambert's factions arguing for elections 
only after passage of the new electoral law, while supporters 
of Senator Kely Bastien demanded immediate elections to 
replace Lambert. Lambert had been critisized as  ineffective 
and divisive.  With the new Bureau inaugurated on January 21, 
the Senate will be looking to Senator Bastien for more 
inclusive leadership and a better working relationship with 
the Executive branch. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Senate on January 17 voted on the new Senate 
"Bureau", the collective term for Senate President and other 
leading Senate offices.  The Senate unanimously elected 
Senator Kely Bastien as the new President of the Senate for a 
term of one year.  Senator Rudolph H. Boulos (Fusion, 
Northeast) was elected vice-president by a vote of 13-11 
(beating Senator Andris Riche, Grand Anse, OPL); Senator 
Fritz Carlos Lebon (Union, South) was elected treasurer by a 
vote of 16-9 (beating Senator Jean Joseph Pierre Louis, OPL, 
Nippes); Senator Eddie Bastien (Alyans, Northwest) was 
unanimously elected first secretary; and Senator Judnel Jean 
(Fusion, Northeast) was unanimously elected Second Secretary. 
 The new senate Bureau was inaugurated January 21. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The election took place after Senator Lambert and 
the rest of the Senate Bureau resigned minutes prior to the 
opening of the January 17 senate session.  The resignation 
came after a bitter difference of opinion over whether a new 
bureau should be elected at the opening of the 2008 
legislative session, or only after ten new Senators are 
elected later this year (reftel).  Supporters of outgoing 
Senate President Joseph Lambert took the latter position. 
Senator Kely Bastien's supporters dismissed Lambert's request 
to delay Bureau elections as a ploy to stay in office 
indefinitely.  In a letter addressed to the Senate Bureau on 
January 15, the Bastien camp requested elections be held 
immediately.  The letter also demanded that Articles 8 and 
116 of the Senate's internal regulations be amended.  Lambert 
agreed to hold a session January 22 to address the Senate 
internal regulations but he ignored the issue of Bureau 
elections. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Article 8 of the "Internal Senate Regulations" 
states that the Senate is renewed in thirds every two years 
and that the incumbent Senate Bureau confirms the newly 
elected senators and oversees the election of a new Senate 
Bureau.  Thus, article 8 would have dictated waiting until 
the next (and now delayed) Senate elections before electing a 
new Bureau.  Article 116 stipulates that members of the 
Senate Bureau are elected for 2 years and may be re-elected 
to the Bureau.  In a January 16 conversation with Poloff, 
Senator Rudy Heriveaux (Lavalas, West), accused Lambert of 
seeking to delay amendment of these articles in order to 
prolong his "already expired" mandate as Senate President. 
Heriveaux at that time claimed that senators had already 
convened and decided on his replacement.  In the end, the 
Senate on January 21 amended Articles 8 and 116 so that 
henceforth, elections for the Senate Bureau will be held 
every year as opposed to two, and on the second Tuesday of 
January, i.e., the day after the opening of the yearly 
legislative session on the constitutionally-mandated date of 
the second Monday of January.  Heriveaux justified the change 
in the regulations as necessary to make the Bureau more 
transparent, grant the Senate more control over the Bureau's 
leadership, and to satisfy the current plurality within the 
Senate. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Faced with this affront, Senator Lambert publicly 
criticized the amendments to Senate regulations as a bad 
precedent, and then, for good measure, denounced the 
compromise on the two-year senators' mandates reached with 
President Preval and political party leaders (reftel). 
Heriveaux, who believed Lambert had the support of President 
Preval, said the Senate reached consensus with President 
Preval to go ahead with Senate bureau elections on January 17 
after Preval realized Lambert did not have the backing of a 
majority of senators. 
 
 
PORT AU PR 00000126  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: The debate over Senate leadership is 
emblematic of the divisions between parties and individuals 
within the upper house.  Senator Bastien's election as Senate 
president, although voted on fairly, happened on a date that 
was justified by a hastily contrived revision of 
long-standing Senate regulations, achieved with the support 
of the Executive Branch.  Connivance with the President to 
find consensus to circumvent established procedures is an all 
too-common practice within the GoH.  It repeats the pattern 
seen in the agreement on extending the terms of the two-year 
Senators (reftel).  As Lambert stated, it may also provide an 
ominous precedent for further quick amendments in the 
legislature in the service of political expediency.  For now, 
however, the Senate has new leadership intent on mending 
internal divisions so that Parliament can move forward with 
the business of legislating. END COMMENT. 
SANDERSON