The Haitian Senate has dismissed the prime minister, Jacques-Édouard Alexis.
The situation in Haiti relates nicely to a previous posting on interpellations vs motions of censure. In the 1987 Constitution of Haiti, Article 129-2 states that every member of the National Assembly and the Senate may interpellate the government (or a member of the government) about the acts of the administration. The request must be seconded by 5 members of the legislative body from which the interpellation request originates. Article 129-3 states, somewhat confusingly, that the interpellation request “becomes a vote of confidence or of censure when passed by a majority of that [legislative] body”.
On 9 April Alterpresse reported that 16 senators had interpellated the government. The issue at stake was the price of rice. On 11 April the bureau of the Senate officially set a date of 12 April for a debate on the interpellation, thus seeming to make it a vote of confidence. On that day, 16 of 17 members present supported the no-confidence motion. There are 27 senators members serving in the Senate, so this figure constituted a majority. Therefore, the government was dismissed.
Manifestly, and in contrast to some of the examples I cited in the previous posting, the Haitian case is one where interpellation can be associated with censure motions. However, in terms of identifying semi-presidential countries, the key thing to note is that this is explicitly stated in the constitution.
The President, René Garcia Préval, will now appoint a new prime minister, who will have to obtain the confidence of both houses of the legislature.
As an aside, the requirement of double confidence at appointment and the opportunity for both houses to dismiss the prime minister at any time makes the prime minister’s position very fragile, especially in the context of a highly factionalised political system in Haiti. It is worth remembering that for around 18 months from October 1997 to March 1999 Haiti did not have a prime minister, because the legislature would not agree to support any of the president’s proposed candidates.
The current situation in Haiti is particularly challenging because Senate elections were slated for this month. One-third of the Senate is elected every year. The elections were postponed from November 2007 and were meant to be held in April. I am not sure whether this is still the case.