by STAFF WRITER
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – The Federation Bar of Haiti (FBH) Friday raised concerns over the measures being initiated to appoint an interim head of state saying that the agreement reached to end the constitutional crisis in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country is flawed.
Under the terms of the agreement, Parliament will elect an interim President for a term of 120 days and confirm a consensus Prime Minister. Continuation of the elections process to the second round will take place on 24 April. The new President, elected by that process, will be installed on May 14, 2016.
Opposition parties had called for the establishment of an interim administration to oversee fresh elections in the country and had taken to the streets protesting the outcome of the first round of balloting on August 24 last year as well as preventing the staging of the second round of the presidential elections on January 24 this tear.
The FBH said that the accord does not take into consideration any role to be played by the judiciary, which under the Haitian constitution is ‘one of three custodians … of national sovereignty”.
The lawyers warned that in order to prevent a “worsening of the political crisis” any attempt to leave out one of the powers of the state and the lack of consensus with the players involved in the crisis “cannot in any way promote sustainable solution of stability and serenity”.
In addition the FBH said that the agreement contained at least five violations including a requirement that applicants for the position of interim head of state must make a deposit of 500,000 Gourdes (One Haitian Gourde =US$0.16 cents).
“The National Assembly cannot claim to replace the CEP (Provisional Electoral Council), much less justify the imposition of that amount waving the 2015 electoral decree which is not applicable. And such amount convert the universal suffrage into census suffrage (and) constitutes a restoration of an anti-democratic electoral system,” the FBH added.
Meanwhile, President of the Special Bicameral Commission, Senator Wesner Polycarpe, said so far five people have been listed for the position of interim President.
The registration period is due to end on Friday, but some of the candidates are yet to pay the fees.
General Coordinator of the Alternative League for Progress and the Haitian Emancipation (LAPEH), Jean Hector Anacacis has expressed disappointment with the registration process while the Quaestor of the Chamber of Deputies, Delmas Gary Bodeau , says he does not agree with his colleagues on the agreement signed between the presidents of both chambers and former President Michel Martelly. According to him no member of National Assembly should be a candidate for the post of interim president because they cannot be judge and a party at the same time.
