VZCZCXRO9938
OO RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #1217 2401742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271742Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8749
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 2034
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 0215
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 1812
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2406
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0311
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 1237
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001217 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: PREVAL TRIES TO JUMP THE GUN IN APPOINTING NEW 
GOVERNMENT 
 
REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1208 
 
¶1. (SBU) After President Preval formally appointed Michele 
Pierre-Louis Prime Minister August 24, and the new PM then 
appointed her new cabinet the same day (reftel), the 
President planned to swear in the new ministers on August 26. 
 The President's office announced the morning of August 26 
that the ceremony was postponed due to weather, as heavy 
rains from Hurricane Gustav were already moving into Port au 
Prince. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The real reason for the postponement was protest 
from numerous legislators and commentators that it would be 
unconstitutional to install the new government before it 
survives a parliamentary vote of confidence.  Fusion 
spokesman Micha Gaillard told the press that installing the 
government before parliament had approved its general policy 
would be a violation of the constitution and 
''anti-democratic.''  Several deputies from the majority bloc 
in the Chamber of Deputies, the Coalition of Progressive 
Parliamentarians, termed this move ''illegal and 
unconstitutional.''  Senator Andris Riche from OPL also told 
the press August 26 that preempting the parliamentary vote 
would be unconstitutional and tantamount to a ''coup 
d'etat.''  Rosny Desroches, director of the respected civil 
society organization ''Civil Society Initiative,'' publicly 
termed this action a violation of the constitution that would 
threaten Haiti's political stability.  Gaillard and others 
thought that if Preval went through with swearing in the 
government before the parliamentary vote, support for that 
government in parliament would crumble, and it might fail to 
obtain a vote of confidence.  This view is shared by at least 
one of the newly-appointed PM's intimates.  In an August 26 
radio interview, PM Michele Pierre-Louis tried to smooth 
things over by assuring the country that her government would 
not be sworn in without the approval of parliament. 
 
¶3. (U) The Pierre-Louis government's declaration of policy to 
the Chamber of Deputies, and the following vote of 
confidence, are scheduled for August 28.  The date of the 
Senate session will depend on when airline schedules 
disrupted by Hurricane Gustav allow Senate President Kely 
Bastien to return to Haiti from Denver, where he is a guest 
at the Democratic National Convention. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment:  The constitution is vague on this 
sequence.  Article 158 says that the Prime Minister chooses 
his/her government in agreement with the President, and then 
presents that government's declaration of general policy to 
both chambers of the legislature for a vote of confidence. 
It is not clear whether the government is formally sworn in 
before or after that vote of confidence.  Post recalls that 
the former of Government of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard 
Alexis was sworn in after it survived its introductory vote 
of confidence.  Whatever the constitutional legality, 
President Preval's rush to install the new government did not 
help his new Prime Minister's chances of surviving a vote of 
confidence. 
SANDERSON