A divided Haitian supreme court opted Tuesday not to swear in nine newly appointed members of President Jovenel Moise's Provisional Electoral Council, whose appointments and mandate to prepare a referendum for a new constitution and organize upcoming elections have stirred controversy and been deemed unconstitutional.
Unmoved, Moise went and installed the council members anyway.
The afternoon ceremony at the National Palace in front of members of Moise's government, the representative of the Organization of American States and other members of the foreign diplomatic corps came after the court's vice president, Jean Claude Theogene, announced that the scheduled swearing-in would be postponed for lack of quorum.
Moments earlier, the court's nine members had been present to swear in other newly appointed government officials. But they immediately left when the time came to give the oath of office to the new electoral council as required by Haiti's constitution.
All day, the court's judges had been under pressure from political parties and organizations representing a cross-section of Haitian society, which asked the court to either postpone the swearing in of the election council, known as the CEP, or cancel it altogether.
"For us, there is no CEP," Jacques Letang, president of the Haitian Bar Federation, said in an interview. "Even if President Jovenel did his thing at the National Palace, it has no legal basis."
In an impassioned plea to the Supreme Court's judges, the Bar Federation said it was formally opposed to the swearing in. The country's highest court, the bar said, "must play its role of guarantor of democracy" and "remind the authorities of the limits of their powers and the imperative nature of the rules organizing the Rule of Law."
Since Moise's presidential decree announcing the appointments of the CEP members was published Friday in the government's newspaper, Le Moniteur, Haitian legal and constitutional scholars, opposition parties and human rights organizations have criticized its creation as illegal and unconstitutional.
They accuse Moise of violating the constitution by picking representatives from sectors not prescribed in the 1987 amended constitution and for mandating them to prepare a referendum to give Haiti a new constitution.
Haiti's current constitution, several experts have noted, prohibits the use of a referendum to modify the ruling charter itself.
Moise has faced resistance sitting a CEP, and the manner in which the current council was appointed raises questions about its legitimacy in a country where elections _ and provisional electoral councils _ have always been problematic. His decision Tuesday to install the members in defiance of the constitution also raises questions about the possibility of any legitimate elections taking place in Haiti.
While the international community, led by the U.S., has been pressuring Moise to organize elections, key sectors that have been part of past councils since the mid 1980s _ the Catholic Church, the Protestant Federation, private sector associations, presidents of universities and human rights advocates _ have all categorically refused to designate a representative, citing concerns about the credibility of any voting under the president.
On Monday, the U.S. Embassy issued a tweet saying that it welcomed the appointment of the electoral council and was looking forward to the publication of an electoral law and a calendar for long over due legislative elections.
The posting infuriated Haitians, who have expressed indignation at the U.S. after a senior State Department official threatened sanctions against members of the opposition and civil society who stand in the way of the electoral process.
On Tuesday, members of Haitian society and political parties continued to protest, writing letters to the Supreme Court opposing the swearing-in and taking to the radio to distance themselves and denounce CEP members whom the presidential palace has said represents their sectors.
During the installation ceremony, no representatives of the opposition or even political parties close to the government were present, sources said. U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison and the head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, Helen La Lime, were not present either. La Lime was represented by an underling, Sancho Coutinho, according to spokeswoman Beatrice Nibogora. The State Department did not respond to a Miami Herald question on whether Sison had a designated representative in attendance.
Acknowledging that Haiti is going through a difficult moment in its history, Moise called on Haitians to find agreement and told the nation that elections were necessary.
"I asked for all of you to engage with me on the road to changing the country," he said, before adding: "The society is sick. There is too much hypocrisy."
