Political
The Truth about ARTICLE 137 in the Amended Constitution of Haiti
- Friday, June 22, 2012 4:35 PM
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Written by S. Maxime
ORLANDO, USA (defend.ht) – The document corrected and submitted to the national press by President Michel Martelly does reflect the votes taken by the 48th and 49th legislatures. As well, the changes made to ARTICLE 137 do not give more power to the President or the Parliament but simplify the process of installing a Prime Minister, it is now faster and easier.
The main point of the discontents are over the changes to ARTICLE 137, regarding the process for selecting a Prime Minister. The say that behind closed doors, President Martelly and other officials of the government would have diverged the text from what was actually voted. This is not true.
ARTICLE 137 is written in the Constitution today as proposed and voted for in the public forum, that is, the Parliament, by the 48th Legislature in 2009 and as accepted and voted for by the 49th Legislature in 2011.
Today, ARTICLE 137 reads:
Le Président de la République choisit un Premier Ministre parmi les membres du parti ayant la majorité absolue au Parlement. La majorité est établie sur la base des résultats électoraux des élus dans chacune des deux chambres. A défaut de cette majorité, le Président de la République choisit le Premier Ministre en consultation avec le Président du Sénat et celui de la Chambre des Députés.”
In English:
The President of the Republic shall choose a Prime Minister from among members of the party with an absolute majority in Parliament. The majority is established on the basis of electoral politicians in both chambers. Without this majority, the President of the Republic chooses the Prime Minister in consultation with the Chairman of the Senate and House of Deputies.
Confirm It.
If you wish to confirm that no changes were made to this text between 2009 and 2012, check these links:
Visit the Embassy of Haiti, Washington D.C.'s website, Research and Resources page, where the resolution to amend the Constitution, accepted by 2/3s of Parliamentarians on September 14, 2009, was posted and has been available to the public for these past two-and-a-half years.
Defend Haiti has had this document on its server since 2009, as well, and may be downloaded here.
The Constitution, in its corrected form, published in June 2012, is no different from that which was voted on in 2009. The video to the left of this paragraph, filmed in 2011 (not 2010), confirms this is, and these photocopies from the official state journal, Le Moniteur, match what was voted on and accepted by the 48th and 49th.
What do the changes mean?
Since we’ve closed the case and proved the legitimacy of the amendments and that of ARTICLE 137 of the Constitution, there are some people who are worried about the change, reason being, because the Constitution no longer explicitly says that a Prime Minister must be ratified by Parliament.
There is no reason to worry about this, because other articles in the Constitution, in their effect, require Parliament to approve a Prime Minister candidate and provide them the freedom to investigate the requirements of the candidate.
ARTICLE 137 in 1987:
Le Président de la République choisit un Premier Ministre parmi les membres du parti ayant la majorité au Parlement. A défaut de cette majorité, le Président de la République choisit son Premier Ministre en consultation avec le Président du Sénat et celui de la Chambre des députés.
Dans les deux (2) cas le choix doit être ratifié par le Parlement.
In English:The President of the Republic shall choose a Prime Minister from among the members of the majority party of the Parliament. In the absence of such a majority, the President of the Republic shall choose his Prime Minister in consultation with the President of the Senate and the President of the House of Deputies.
In either case, the President's choice must be ratified by the Parliament.
The 2011 amendments remove the preliminary process of ratification by removing the last line, “In either case, the President’s choice must be ratified by the Parliament.”
Because of this line, the process of ratifying a Prime Minister was four steps long. It required that the candidate to be Prime Minister receive a majority vote from each of the two houses, twice.
The first vote of each house would be to ensure that the Prime Minister met the requirements of ARTICLE 157 in the Constitution. Before this vote members of Parliament would form commissions and request the prospective PM to provide documents proving their eligibility.
The second vote of each house would be the occasion where the designated Prime Minister presents his or her cabinet and declares his or her policy for governing. The members of Parliament would then vote to accept it or not.
In today’s Constitution, all four of these steps have been consolidated into one step, with the only major change being that both house of Parliament vote at the same time, rather than each individually – which usually gave an imbalance of power favoring the upper house over the lower house and less populated regions of Haiti over more populated ones. Today’s Constitution balances the power of elected representatives of each community and department.
The Prime Minister will still be investigated to ensure that they meet the requirements of ARTICLE 157. This is guaranteed by ARTICLE 118 which reads:
Each House has the right to investigate matters brought before it.
The Prime Minister will still have to declare his or her general policy and present the choices for ministers before Parliament for approval. This is guaranteed by ARTICLE 158 which reads:
With the approval of the President, the Prime Minister shall choose the members of his Cabinet of Ministers and shall go before Parliament to obtain a vote of confidence on his declaration of general policy. The vote shall be taken in open ballot, and an absolute majority of both Houses is required.
In the event of a vote of nonconfidence by one of the two (2) Houses, the procedure shall be repeated.
With ARTICLE 118 and 158, members of Parliament may investigate that a candidate meets the requirements to be a Prime Minister, as before, and can reject the candidate if not.
The vote on the declaration of policy is a highly subjective vote. Parliamentarians can vote in any way they want and not have to explain the reason why. Two choices for Prime Minister could present the exact same declaration of general policy but a member of Parliament, for example, may not like the fact that one designated Prime Minister is wearing red shoes. Purely on the basis that the Parliamentarian does not feel the designated can accomplish what has been outlined in his general policy because he is wearing red shoes, he can receive an unfavorable vote.
In conclusion, the published Constitution of Haiti is legitimate. It is what Parliamentarians came together for, making quorum twice in two years and passing by 2/3s majority. The changes to ARTICLE 137 require that ratification be a vote of both house of Parliament at the same time rather than two separately. The changes to ARTICLE 137 does not take power from the legislature or the executive, both government branches effectively have the same duties as before.
