(2009) New Internal Rules of Haiti's Chamber of Deputies, replacing the 1991 rules
Summary — Launched by Chamber President Levaillant Louis-Jeune shortly after taking office in January 2009 with the backing of the CPP (Concertation des Parlementaires Progressistes), this new Règlement Intérieur replaces the Chamber's 1991 rules — adopted, per the President's foreword, in the haste of Haiti's early democratic transition and grown obsolete over two decades. It restructures the Bureau d'âge, Bureau composition and elections, presidential and Bureau-member duties, term limits, and the Chamber's administrative/financial autonomy and budget.
Key Findings
- Replaces the 1991 Chamber rules, judged obsolete after two decades, as the first step of a broader institutional reform program including a planned Administrative Regulation and Parliamentary Civil Service Law.
- Fixes Bureau membership at 7 (1 President, 2 Vice-Presidents, 1 Questeur, 1 Vice-Questeur, 2 Secretaries) with 1-year renewable mandates.
- Requires formal notification of the elected Bureau to five named officials including the Minister of Economy and Finance and the BRH Governor.
- Grants the Chamber administrative and financial autonomy with a budget nomenclature mirroring the State budget and quarterly advance disbursement.
- Mandates return of unused budget surplus to the Public Treasury at year-end (Article 25).
Full Description
This document is the new Règlement Intérieur (internal rules) of Haiti's Chamber of Deputies, presented in a foreword by Chamber President Levaillant Louis-Jeune as replacing the 1991 rules, which he describes as drafted hastily amid the early euphoria of the democratic transition and rendered obsolete after roughly two decades of political liberalization. Louis-Jeune frames adoption of the new rules, pursued from the start of his presidential mandate in January 2009 with the unconditional support of the CPP (Concertation des Parlementaires Progressistes) parliamentary bloc, as the first step of an institutional reform program to be followed by an Administrative Regulation and a Parliamentary Civil Service Law. Substantively: Chapter I (Bureau d'âge) governs the provisional presidency of the oldest-present Deputy at a new Legislature's first session, powers/candidate validation, and the swearing-in of Deputies under Constitution Articles 108-109. Chapter II sets Bureau composition (1 President, 2 Vice-Presidents, 1 Questeur, 1 Vice-Questeur, 2 Secretaries) and secret-ballot, absolute-then-relative-majority election procedures, with formal notification of the elected Bureau to the President of the Republic, Prime Minister, Senate President, Minister of Economy and Finance, President of the Cour Supérieure des Comptes, and the Governor of the Banque de la République d'Haïti. Chapter III details the President's attributions (convening/chairing sessions, representing the Chamber externally, countersigning administrative/financial documents, requisitioning security forces) and the Bureau's collective and individual duties, including the Questeur's budget-preparation role and the Secretaries' vote-counting and record-keeping duties, with Bureau mandates set at one renewable year. The final section establishes the Chamber's administrative and financial autonomy, a budget nomenclature mirroring the State budget, quarterly advance disbursement of the State's endowment into a bank account managed by the Questeur, and mandatory return of any budget surplus to the Public Treasury at year-end.