VZCZCXRO6826
OO RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0270/01 0701942
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 111942Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9726
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 2247
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO PRIORITY 0332
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1989
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1816

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000270 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/EX, WHA/CAR, S/CRS, DS/IP/WHA, AND INR/IAA 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS TO USOAS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ASEC HA
SUBJECT: HAITI: ELECTORAL COUNCIL MAY DISREGARD COURT 
RULING IN FAVOR OF LAVALAS 
 
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 122 
     ¶B. PORT AU PRINCE 233 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d )
 
¶1. (C) Summary: The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has 
rejected a March 9 court ruling enjoining electoral 
authorities to include representatives of former President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party in the upcoming 
senatorial elections.  The CEP and its supporters say that 
the court has no jurisdiction over electoral matters.  It is 
not yet clear whether the CEP will appeal the court's 
injunction or simply ignore it.  The court's decision came 
just after a smaller-than-expected crowd of pro-Lavalas 
demonstrators ''welcomed'' former President Bill Clinton and 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Haiti for their March 
9-10 visit and demanded the return to Haiti of exiled former 
President Aristide.  Aristide's return, not elections, is the 
theme of the Lavalas mobilization drive in response to their 
party's exclusion from the Senate contest.  End summary. 
 
EMERGENCY COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF LAVALAS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Judge Jean Claude Douyon ruled March 9 that the 
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) had violated Fanmi 
Lavalas's ''political rights'' by excluding all of the 
party's candidates from the upcoming elections (ref A). 
Judge Douyon, acting on an emergency petition filed by 
Lavalas with a special chamber of the Port-au-Prince civil 
court of first instance (the ''Referee Tribunal''), held that 
while individual Lavalas candidates may be accepted or 
excluded according to the provisions of the electoral law, 
the CEP's blanket exclusion of the party from April's partial 
Senate elections was in violation of the law.  (Note:  The 
Referee Tribunal is reserved for cases requiring quick 
decisions.  End note.)  Local Lavalas leaders had petitioned 
the court to reverse the CEP's recent decision excluding 12 
candidates supported by FL's Executive Committee.  Dozens of 
noisy Lavalas partisans packed the courtroom March 6 for a 
hearing on the matter; the judge threatened to expel them at 
one point for interrupting the proceedings.  The CEP 
President and Director General were summoned to that hearing 
but sent lawyers in their place, citing concerns for their 
security. 
 
ELECTORAL COUNCIL MAY DISREGARD RULING 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) In a March 10 communique, the CEP rejected Judge 
Douyon's decision, arguing that only the CEP's internal 
appeals panels established by the July 2008 electoral law 
have jurisdiction over electoral disputes.  The CEP 
communique noted that the judge had not allowed its lawyers 
to make the CEP's case before the court.  The CEP statement 
was silent on the question of how it would proceed, but noted 
that its published list of approved candidates already took 
account of the issues the court raised.  A UN advisor to the 
CEP told Polcouns March 10 that the electoral council would 
not abide by the court's ruling and would continue its 
preparations for the upcoming elections. 
 
¶4. (C) Former Senate President Joseph Lambert, a close ally 
of President Rene Preval and a founding member of his Lespwa 
coalition, made similar remarks to Poloff March 10.  Moving 
forward without reconsidering the rejected candidates, he 
said, would allow the CEP to keep to the electoral calendar 
and hold the elections as scheduled on April 19.  The 
electoral law does not allow recourse to civil tribunals, 
Lambert argued, adding that in any case the Lavalas matter 
was not of sufficient urgency to fall under the jurisdiction 
of Referee Tribunal.  The chairman of the Senate's Justice 
and Public Security Committee, Senator Youri Latortue, 
declared to the press March 10 that the CEP alone has 
jurisdiction over election disputes.  But he also noted that 
it would be politically wise to find a way to allow Fanmi 
Lavalas candidates to run. 
 
SMALL DEMONSTRATION TO ''WELCOME'' FORMER PRESIDENT CLINTON 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In response to the party's being shut out of 
elections, Lavalas activists are seeking every opportunity to 
continue their mobilization campaign.  After a small protest 
against the CEP February 28 (ref B), hundreds of Lavalas 
supporters converged on the airport March 9 to ''welcome'' 
the arrival of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former 
President Bill Clinton.  Haitian police had erected 
barricades around the airport early that morning to control 
the crowds, and there were no reported incidents of violence. 
 The UN SYG and the former U.S. President arrived earlier 
than expected, and had already left the airport by the time 
most demonstrators arrived.  Embassy observers estimated that 
fewer than 1,500 joined the crowd as it gathered in front of 
the Airport, proceeded to the site of the delegation's next 
meetings in the Cite Soleil slum, and finally moved to the 
National Palace, where the delegation met with President 
Preval.  The Ban Ki-moon/Clinton motorcade was one step ahead 
of the protesters at each stop.  All along the way, marchers 
protested poverty and high prices, and demanded the return of 
Aristide from South Africa.  There was hardly a word about 
elections. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) Many Embassy contacts make the point that while the 
CEP may have a plausible legal argument, their apparent 
decision to proceed in defiance of a court order will almost 
certainly pose political problems.  They also wish that a way 
could be found include at least some FL candidates on the 
April ballot.  On the other hand, a decision to appeal the 
ruling or to re-examine the eligibility of excluded 
candidates would make a postponement of the April elections 
much more likely. 
SANDERSON