4. Validity of the vote of the Parliament
The vote is valid if all the standards were respected. One
understands here by standards, the procedures and the conditions under which
the vote takes place.
Article 64 of the rules of procedure of the House of Commons
makes injunction with very Député to vote on any question with
the deliberation of which it took part. The vote not being nominal, how to
check the application of this provision? Let us take as example the vote which
takes place on December 23, 1997 at the time of the meeting of ratification of
Mr Herve Denis appointed Prime Minister.
... Indeed, there were 72 deputies present; 34 had voted for
the Commission Report, 33 others had voted against this report/ratio, 2
deputies had abstained from and 2 others had not decided. Here is an apparently
insoluble question of procedure.
With the question: «Yes or not Mr Herve Denis is
ratified?». No the answer. Two weeks later, this same scenario reproduced
when it was necessary to vote the official report of the meeting of
ratification of December 23, 1997: 25 deputies had not decided.
The rules of procedure are dumb on the decision to adopt in
this case. This weakness creates confusion around the validity of the vote
since one cannot interpret the position of these which did not take part in
it
Section 2. Problems encountered in the relations
between the Parliament and the other Capacities
The constitution of 1987 delegates the sovereignty of the
Republic of Haiti to three capacities: the Executive, the Legislature and the
Legal one. In its preamble it is written that:
«The Haitian people proclaim the present
constitution to ensure the separation of the capacities of the State the
service of the fundamental and priority interests of the
Nation»
In this section we will present in comparison of the
constitution and the rules the relationship between the Parliament and the
other Capacities.
A- The management of the relationship between the
Legislature and the Executive
Although the constitution of 1987 establishes a parliamentary
semi system, it grants by rebound of serious capacities to the president of the
Republic. This one, while being a Head of the State, has also capacities of
Chief of Government: it names with its Prime Minister the members of the
ministerial Cabinet, chairs the Council of Ministers and names the General
managers.
The president of the Republic chooses the Prime Minister in
the majority party at the Parliament or failing this in consultation with the
presidents of the two Rooms. This Prime Minister receives the vote of
confidence of the Parliament for his declaration of general policy. The
Parliament as for him must exert a power of control on the government all while
maintaining with this last of the harmonious reports/ratios.
a) The ratification of the Prime Minister
The 46ème legislature made the experiment of
ratification of 3 Prime Ministers: Rosny SMARTH, Ericq PIERRE and Herve
DENIS.
The procedure installation to ratify the choice of the Prime
Minister is heavy and confused. Article 158 of the constitution makes
obligation to this last to be submitted to the Parliament to have its vote of
confidence. The Parliament has to come to a conclusion about the declaration of
general policy of the Prime Minister.
However, Haitian parliamentary jurisprudence divides the
ratification into two stages. During the first, a commission charged to study
the parts of indicated the Prime Minister following article 157 of the
constitution presents at the Parliament a report/ratio on her eligibility. This
report/ratio must be voted in the majority of the members present of the
Parliament. Then, in the case of a favorable vote, the Prime Minister is thus
invited to make its statement of general policy to receive the vote of
confidence of the Parliament in the majority absolute of the members of this
Body.
This situation makes complex the process of ratification seen
that the vote of the Parliament is at the same time technical and political.
Two cases of figure can give us reason :
1o) The case of Ericq PIERRE
The Parliament of the Deputies rejected the choice of Ericq
PIERRE because «this last had not submitted to the commission the birth
certificate of its grand' mother». The commission had given a report/ratio
favorable to the choice of Mr PIERRE, however certain members of the aforesaid
the commission voted against the report/ratio.
2o) The case of Herve DENIS
The file of Mr DENIS was in conformity with article 157 of the
constitution and the Commission Report was correct. Though the Parliament did
not belong to faults, it made a political vote rather than technical and
rejected the choice of Herve DENIS. At the time of the vote of the Commission
Report, whereas the commission recommended a positive vote, the majority of the
members of this same commission voted against the report/ratio of
ratification.
The vote of ratification of the choice of a Prime Minister
should not be regarded as a political vote. It must be an application of
article 157 of the constitution. The Parliament will have time to put forward
her political points of view in the meeting of presentation of the declaration
of general policy of the Government.
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