[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 33 (Monday, August 23, 1999)]
[Pages 1640-1641]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders Reporting on Elections in Haiti

August 16, 1999

Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)

    Pursuant to the authority vested in me as President by the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 561(b) 
of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs 
Appropriations Act, 1999 (FOAA), as enacted in Public Law 105-277, I 
hereby report to the Congress that the central Government of Haiti: (1) 
has achieved a transparent settlement of the contested April 1997 
elections, and (2) has made concrete progress on the constitution of a 
credible and competent provisional electoral council that is acceptable 
to a broad spectrum of political parties and civic groups in Haiti. 
Section 561(b) states that funds appropriated by the FOAA and made 
available to support elections in Haiti shall not be restricted if I 
report to the Congress that the central Government of Haiti has met the 
two aforementioned criteria.
    The first criterion in section 561(b) of the FOAA, a transparent 
settlement of the contested April 1997 elections, was cumulatively met 
by a public declaration by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) on 
June 11 and the promulgation of the Electoral Law, which was published 
in the national gazette Le Moniteur July 19, and republished with 
corrections July 22. Taken together, these two acts establish that 19 
Senate seats will be run in the legislative and local elections 
projected for late 1999. Included in this number are the two still-
contested Senate seats from April 1997. Article 63 of the Electoral Law 
specifically states ``the number of Senators to be elected in the 
upcoming elections shall be determined by the CEP.'' This authority

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is also provided in Article 16. Article 130 states that the elections 
are to fill Senate seats vacant by ``fact or law.''
    Pursuant to its authority to determine which seats will be competed, 
the CEP declared publicly on June 11 that it ``has decided to call 
elections to fill all Senate positions currently vacant, whether de 
facto or de jure, without distinction.'' In a number of subsequent 
public statements, as well as in private assurances to the Embassy and 
others in the international community, CEP officials explicitly and 
unanimously reiterated that because there are presently eight sitting 
Senators and the Constitution calls for a Senate of 27 Senators, a total 
of 19 Senate seats will be competed, including the two still-contested 
positions.
    The second criterion, concrete progress on constituting a competent, 
credible, and broadly acceptable CEP, was achieved March 16 when 
President Preval announced that nine-member body's composition after 
consultations with the five-party Espace de Concertation. Since that 
time, the CEP has performed in a competent, even-handed, and credible 
manner and has been deemed acceptable even by parties and movements who 
stand in staunch opposition to the government.
    Sincerely,
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: Identical letters were sent to J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate.