Monday, after the meeting last week between the Head of State and several parliamentarians, the Senator Simon Dieuseul Desras, President of the Senate, the President Martelly had mentioned the reduction the reduction of terms of senators, which would result in the departure of 10 senators in January 2014 instead of the second Monday in January 2015, which did not fail to arouse strong opposition https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7713-haiti-politic-reduction-of-terms-of-senators.html , Lucien Jura, the Spokesman of the Presidency, wished to provide further information on the remarks of President Martelly on this topic.

"[...] This is a subject, who for some days, spilled much ink, we hear about that, everywhere, in a way often preposterous, but there is one thing that is clear is that it is necessary to specify for the Haitian people, for the public opinion in general, the President made of the rule of law a cornerstone of his political vision.

The rule of law presupposes the strict observance of the Constitution and the law and until then, if one refers to the constitutional amendments, if one refers to the establishment of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, or even of Permanent Electoral Council and later we will see, the Constitutional Court, it will be found that the President always does his best to stay in the shade of the Constitution [...]

Beyond palaver, beyond speculation the rule of law must prevail and the rule of law will prevail for the President of the Republic, as in all sectors, because the rule of law has for real pillar, first of all, the respect for the Constitution and the law.

[...] The President of the Republic has no other compass than the law, that the Constitution, the wishes of the Constitution will therefore be applied in this specific case, as in all others to follow.

[...] The issue was addressed by the President of the Republic, not in the sense of shorten [the terms of senators] but preferably in the sense of the strict observance of the Constitution.

[...] The only ambition of the President of the Republic is to apply the Constitutions to the letter, what want the Constitution is that it will."

Article 95 of the amended Constitution

Senators are elected for six (6) years and may be re-elected indefinitely. They shall take office on the second Monday of January following their election.

In the event that elections can not be completed before the second Monday of January, the Senators elected shall take office immediately after the validation of election and their term of six (6) years is deemed to have commenced on the second Monday of January of the year of entry into function.

S/ HaitiLibre