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FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0391
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 2385
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO PRIORITY 0426
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 2100
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1939

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000822 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR, S/CRS, INL FOR KEVIN BROWN, 
HEATHER WILD, AND MEAGAN MCBRIDE 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD, STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR, 
INR/IAA, DS/IP/WHA, WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ASEC HA
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL CONFUSION 
 
REF: A. PORT AU PRINCE 00632 
     ¶B. PORT AU PRINCE 00788 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On September 14, the last day of the ordinary 
session, the Parliament voted with over a two thirds majority 
for amending the Haitian Constitution of 1987.  The approved 
text makes substantial changes to Parliamentary mandates, 
effectively consolidating the electoral calendar into one 
national election every five years, and the creation of a 
Constitutional Council to serve as arbiter and mediator 
between the Legislative and Executive branches.  The 
amendments ignored some of the proposals made by President 
Preval, including those to put limits on the Legislative, and 
did not address the issues of reconstituting the armed forces 
and complex local government structure.  Confusion remains in 
the approved text on the prohibition of dual nationality. 
The next legislature will have final say in what amendments 
are ultimately passed.  The Constitutional reform was a 
partial victory for Preval, though it also highlighted his 
lack of a loyal majority in the legislature. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) Both President Preval and Deputy Stephen Benoit had 
proposed Constitutional amendments to Parliament on September 
¶4.  The proposed amendments ranged from semantic changes to 
major structural revisions.  Amendments to the prohibition of 
double nationality, reforming the administration of justice 
and consolidating the schedule of elections were proposed, 
along with the creation of a Constitutional Council to 
address contentions between the Executive and the Legislative 
branches.  More controversially, Preval's proposal 
strengthened the powers of the President and limited 
Parliament's independence, for example by giving the 
President the authority to nominate the Permanent Electoral 
Council and stripping Parliament of its right to validate 
newly-elected Parliamentarians. 
 
¶3. (U) On September 14, the final day of the regular session 
(in effect the last day the Parliament could have pronounced 
itself on any amendments, according to the Constitution), 
Parliament voted for an amendment of the Constitution.  71 
Deputies and 21 Senators hastily voted for a set of 
amendments in a very late session, the relevant parts of 
which are described below.  Left out were most controversial 
issues regarding dual nationality, weakening the powers of 
the legislature, simplifying local government structure and 
reconstituting an army. 
 
ELECTIONS 
--------- 
 
¶4. (U) The main objective of this amendment is to reduce the 
number and frequency of elections.  To this effect, mandates 
for both Senators and Deputies are set at five years in the 
approved reform language.  In theory, this would allow for 
one general Parliamentary election and one Presidential 
election every five years.  This revamps the expensive and 
burdensome electoral schedule under the current Constitution 
(every four years for Deputies, every two years of one third 
of Senators, and every five years for the President). 
However, politicians would still have to agree on how to 
transition from one system to the other. 
 
¶5. (U) In addition, the likelihood of running second rounds 
is reduced by foregoing the need for an absolute majority to 
win an electoral race.  Instead, a first candidate's 
advantage of at least 25 percent of votes over the second 
most voted candidate would suffice for a win without the need 
for a second round (this applies to both the Deputies and the 
President, and a similar system to the Senators). 
 
CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL 
---------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) A new Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel 
in French) is established to decide on the constitutionality 
of laws and on conflicts between the Powers of the State. 
The Council is composed of nine members, three each named by 
the President, the Presidents of the Senate and Chamber of 
Deputies (together), and the Conseil Superieur du Pouvoir 
 
PORT AU PR 00000822  002 OF 003 
 
 
Judiciaire. 
 
¶7. (U) Parliament ignored Preval's proposal to have the 
Constitutional Council receive appeals against the decisions 
of the Electoral Council.  Preval had offered this in 
exchange for his abolishing the validation process for 
Parliamentarians, which expectedly no one in Parliament 
welcomed. 
 
BALANCE OF POWERS 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Parliament is now more limited in its ability to 
summon members of the Government (interpellation).  This 
procedure now requires the support of one quarter of any 
Chamber, as opposed to the five members needed under the 
current Constitution. 
 
¶9. (U) This amendment is the only one that limits 
Parliament's power over the Executive.  Preval had proposed a 
series of changes, such that the Executive would be allowed 
to adjourn the Parliament temporarily, that a third attempt 
at having a quorum would no longer require it, and that the 
Parliament would no longer validate newly-elected 
Parliamentarians.  These issues were entirely sidelined by 
the vote. 
 
JUSTICE REFORM 
-------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The amendment ''constitutionalizes'' the already 
existing Superior Council (Conseil Superieur du Pouvoir 
Judiciaire).  The Council manages and oversees the 
administration of the justice system.  The Court of Cassation 
remains the highest court of appeal in judicial matters 
(criminal and civil). 
 
THE ARMY 
-------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Army is maintained only with a change in name 
to ''L'Armee d'Haiti.''  Many observers in the international 
community had expected that the armed forces would be 
re-invented into a policing force if not abolished.  Not one 
of the three proposals considered the practicality of 
rebuilding a military, and all simply changed the name. 
 
GENDER EQUITY 
------------- 
 
¶12. (U) An amendment improves gender equity by imposing a 30 
percent quota for women in the public service (theoretically 
applicable in both elected office and the civil service), a 
first in the history of Haiti. 
 
DUAL NATIONALITY 
---------------- 
 
¶13. (U) The concept of ''jus soli'' (principle by which 
citizenship is determined by place of birth) is introduced in 
the Constitution.  News reports and Parliamentarians have 
indicated that the prohibition on dual nationality has been 
eliminated.  However, confusion remains because the approved 
text does not eliminate Article 15, which states that exact 
prohibition. 
 
PRIME MINISTER APPOINTMENT 
-------------------------- 
 
¶14. (U) The ratification of the appointment of a new Prime 
Minister now takes place in just one session before the joint 
Chambers of Parliament, thus effectively reducing the 
required steps to have a new government in place from four 
votes to one.  This is significant, as in the past every vote 
required political arrangements. 
 
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY 
------------------------------- 
 
 
PORT AU PR 00000822  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶15. (SBU) COMMENT. The Parliament surprised many observers by 
voting on a proposal with less than two weeks of review. 
This was a very short time, but on the good side, they did 
not resort to questionable parliamentary maneuvers to avoid 
the constitutional deadline at the end of the ''regular 
session.''  Parliamentarians even asserted a great level of 
independence by rejecting many of Preval's proposals that 
strengthened the Executive, despite Preval's pressures and 
demonstrated influence in both Chambers.  The next Parliament 
(the 49th legislature, to be elected probably within a year) 
has to approve the sections to be amended, and may adopt more 
of Preval's suggestions.  Several insiders have indicated to 
PolOff that the next Parliament will have the liberty to 
amend the proposal as it sees fit.  This is not Post's 
reading of the Constitutional amendment procedure. 
Regardless, the current product of the Constitutional review 
is a watered down version, given the contentions over the 
aspects of the proposal that consolidated the powers of the 
President over those of the Parliament.  The debate is likely 
to continue over the next several months. 
 
¶16. (SBU) However, it is disappointing to many outside 
observers that the following topics were not addressed by the 
Parliament's current proposal: 
 
-- Article 15 on the prohibition of double nationality is 
left unchanged, even though there seemed to be broad 
consensus that this provision is not beneficial for the 
country.  Of note, Senator Youri Latortue has told United 
Nations staff that this is a typo, and that an amendment was 
meant to abolish this prohibition.  This only demonstrates 
the hastiness of the review process. 
 
-- Only semantic change is brought to the section of the 
Constitution on the Army (see note above). 
 
-- The structure of local government (a system too 
complicated and expensive for a country like Haiti) is left 
intact.  Most importantly, no national government ever 
implemented the structures as delineated by the 1987 
Constitution, thus preventing the creation of a Permanent 
Electoral Council (indirect elections and the creation of 
inter-departmental councils are a step in the nomination of 
the CEP). 
 
-- The prohibition on consecutive Presidential mandates 
remains. 
 
-- The Constitutional amendment process is left as it is, 
leaving each actor to develop his own understanding of the 
procedure as witnessed by PolOff. 
 
¶17. (SBU) A legitimate concern voiced by many, including 
Georges Michel in an op-ed piece in the Le Nouvelliste 
(himself a contributor to the 1987 Constitution) and Reginald 
Boulos (an influential business person), is that very little 
time has been allowed for public debate.  Less numerous but 
more outspoken critics have even denounced a conspiracy by 
Preval to weaken the democratic institutions.  In addition, 
the political climate has been particularly difficult given 
the allegations of fraud during the recent Senate elections 
and the Senate's blatant sidelining of the opposition by 
validating the contested Senators last week (reftel). 
 
¶18. (SBU) The inclusion of gender equity as a provision in 
the Constitution should also be welcomed given the near 
absence of women on the Haitian political scene. 
Nonetheless, the hastiness of the Constitutional review has 
left many of the relevant and burdensome aspects of the 1987 
document intact.  Most importantly, the issues of dual 
nationality, of a complex and unimplemented local government 
structure, of a Parliament easily paralyzed by political 
in-fighting and of the burden of financing an Army or doing 
away with it must be formally addressed.  If not, they will 
continue to hamper Haiti's efforts to face the most pertinent 
challenges ahead: economic growth and security. END COMMENT. 
MERTEN