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BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
The political fate of Haiti's newly ratified prime minister, Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis, was put on hold Tuesday after the president of the lower house of parliament was forced to postpone Phase 2 of her ratification vote.
''The executive isn't ready; nobody is ready,'' a frustrated Eric Jean-Jacques told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview from Port-au-Prince. ``Nobody wants to take risks.''
Jean-Jacques, who presides over the 99-member lower Chamber of Deputies, had scheduled to have Pierre-Louis appear before the chamber at 1 p.m. Tuesday with her new Cabinet and general policies.
But ongoing disagreements among parliamentarians and political parties over who will serve in the new government are delaying the vote, which is necessary for Pierre-Louis to obtain the power to govern under Haiti's constitution.
Some Haitian lawmakers and party leaders are arguing that since the government was fired on April 12 -- along with Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis -- in the wake of deadly food riots, none of them should be returned to power.
Others, including Haitian President René Préval, argue that for the sake of continuity in a country that has spent four months without a functioning government, some ministers should remain in the job.
''It's one big headache,'' Jean-Jacques said.
Pierre-Louis, an economist and educator, was initially ratified July 17 by the lower Chamber of Deputies. The Senate approved her nomination on July 30. But ongoing political bickering over spoils have delayed the second half of the vote, as has the uncertainity in the 18-member Haitian Senate, where she faces a much tougher fight after only getting 12 out of 17 votes in her favor. The others abstained.
Also problematic has been the constitution, which outlines the process for selecting and ratifying Haiti's prime minister. It is as ambiguous as it is burdensome, some observers say.
For one thing, it requires Pierre-Louis to get an absolute majority in the second round when she presents her Cabinet and general policies. That said, some senators are advocating the lowering of the quorum in the Senate chamber.
Currently, the quorum is 16 members. That is also the ''absolute majority'' of votes that Pierre-Louis needs to win the power to govern. The number is based on the fact that the Senate should have 30 sitting members, instead of its current membership of 18.
''It is clear that the principle that wants to consider the current Senate as a deliberative body of 30 senators is absurd,'' said Jean-Claude Bajeux, a Port-au-Prince human-rights activist. He noted that the 12-person void exists because 10 senators had their mandates expire in the face of delayed elections, another died, and the 12th was kicked out because he was born in the United States.
``Thus, the country is being held hostage by 10 zombies, one corpse and one invalid.''
Haiti's political parties oppose the idea of lowering the quorum, which would make it much easier for Pierre-Louis, who received 12 out of 17 eligible Senate votes, to easily pass the second round. One political leader has even compared it to a coup d'etat, if done.
But threats last week by several senators from Préval's Lespwa (HOPE) coalition to resign have heightened tension, with even party leaders conceding that a new crisis could soon be on the horizon.
A resignation of eight out of 18 senators would force the chamber's collapse and bring Haiti's government to a halt.
''The situation is very difficult for the president,'' said Monferrier Dorval, a law professor at the University of Haiti, who sees little chance of Pierre-Louis persuading enough of the abstainers to change their mind.
Like others, he noted that because delayed elections have dwindled the number of sitting senators from 30 to 18, it takes only two lawmakers to decide her fate.
''We are in a regime where they gave the parliamentarians all of the power,'' he said.
But they are not the only ones who seem to have the power in this instance.
Traditionally weak, Haiti's political parties are also flexing their muscles. First, they delayed Pierre-Louis' ratification vote by preventing three of their senators from showing up, preventing the 16 senators needed for a quorum.
Now, they are threatening a no-confidence vote on Pierre-Louis in the second round if Préval, who has been weakened by the search for a prime minister, doesn't play by their rules.
Angered by Préval's initial suggestion to cut them out of the new government, the political parties have gone on the defensive, telling the president that he is flirting with a constitutional crisis. He is asking the parties to provide him with names and résumés for Cabinet posts; they are saying that they will dictate the names and posts.
''The political parties want for the constitution to be respected. It demands that the political parties participate. Mr. Préval needs to respect that,'' said Micha Gaillard, a spokesman for the Social Democratic Fusion Party.
Comparing the recent turn of events to a soccer game, Gaillard said: 'What he and Michèle are saying is, `Vote for me as the coach of the team, but I am going to find other players.' ''
The tensions are a far cry from a year ago when Préval, seemingly obsessed with maintaining political stability in Haiti, courted the parties and leaders like Gaillard, appointing them to presidential commissions and advisory posts.
''There is so much distrust,'' said a frustrated foreign diplomat, who asked for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.
While the politicians bicker over political spoils, the people suffer, say Haitians and others. School opens Sept. 1, and many parents can't afford fees, much less food. Meanwhile, Haiti has received only $20 million to $30 million in pledges from the international community for its new budget year, which begins Oct. 1.
''We are all talking to them. This has to come to a halt,'' the diplomat said. ``If we don't have a prime minister and functioning government, the extreme measures will not be taken. The response of the international community is more difficult when you don't have a partner to have decisions taken.''
Pierre-Louis, who has been shuffling back and forth among the political parties, senators and a powerful bloc of deputies in the lower chamber who single-handedly tanked Préval's two previous nominees, acknowledged that the negotiations are ``complex.''
''President Préval and I remain open in order to find the middle ground,'' she told reporters last week during her first press conference.
With some seeing little chance of reaching a consensus among the numerous players, there is already debate over what happens next: Find a new nominee, or head back to the negotiating table to compose a new government?
Enter Article 158 of the Haitian Constitution.
According to it, if a newly ratified prime minister fails to win a vote of confidence by either of the two chambers for his or her government or general policies, then ``the procedure repeats.''
The question of which procedure has dominated Haitian radio airwaves in the past week.
''It does not say which procedure -- the one having to do with the ratification process or simply this second phase,'' said Jean-Germain Gros, a University of Missouri at St. Louis political science professor and Haitian Constitution expert. ``This underscores what I have been saying for years: the flawed nature of the Haitian Constitution.''
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