b) Problems in the operation of the Parliament
The role of the Parliament is to exert a control on the
governmental action and to vote the law. All the decisions of the Parliament
are made by a vote in the majority of its members in plenary meetings. The
Parliament is bound by her vote from where need for the participation of the
majority before ruling definitively on the question. Indeed, the legislative
procedures of the 46ème legislature of the Haitian Parliament are not
different from those of the other countries. They are the subject of a general
framework which contributes to a better organization of parliamentary work.
1. Meetings of the Parliament
A meeting corresponds to each working day of the members of
Parliament as a Parliament. The Haitian deputies and senators meet for three
weekly meetings : Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Work begins at 11
a.m. with a pause between 1 p.m. and 15 hours to finish at 6 p.m. However, the
assembly can decide under discussion to prolong a meeting until exhaustion of
the question.
A meeting of the Parliament is not divisible. There is no
diary fixes, i.e., a sequence pre-determined for the control of the debates.
Parliamentary work is thus not timed. The speaking time, the order of
precedence in the speech, the minimal time assigned with the Parliament to
decide and many other important points for the success of a meeting are not
respected. At the Haitian Parliament it there with the promotion of the free
expression to the platform without taking account of the importance of the
management of time and the order for which the meeting took place.
2. The vote
The rules of procedure of the Haitian Parliament recognize
only three types of votes:
- for which is equivalent to one «YES»
- against which is equivalent to one «NOT»
- the Abstention
Each member of Parliament is free to vote. The vote is
personal, but the decision is collective. The vote determines the decision of
the Parliament. The Parliament is bound by her vote and it is the only proper
authority for the interpretation of its decision.
According to payments' in force with the House of Commons and
the Senate of the Republic, the cases of figure of the vote are:
- the vote in the majority simple or relative
- the vote in the majority absolute of the members present
- the vote in the majority absolute of the members of the
Body
- the vote in the majority of two thirds of the members of
the body
The determination of these majorities depends on manpower of
the Parliament, i.e., the quorum.
3. Quorum
To the Haitian Parliament the quorum is not won over once the
meeting began. The Parliament can make a decision only in the majority of the
members of the Body joined together during the meeting. This established fact
handicaps parliamentary work since the quorum is fixed. This quorum is given
according to the number of Deputies or Senators envisaged by the constitution.
Thus, with the Senate of the Republic the quorum is maintained with 14 Senators
present out of 16 available and at the House of Commons the quorum is fixed at
42 Deputies present out of 78 available.
With the 46ème legislature of the Haitian Parliament,
there are many difficulties for the behavior of the meetings. The members of
Parliament are not only irregular, but they practice the policy of «the
empty chair» to cancel the quorum. The rules of procedure do not
envisage any sanction not even provisions to reduce the quorum so that the
Parliament can hold meeting in the event of urgency.
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