Haiti’s Chamber of Deputies President Cholzer Chancy and Senate Vice President Ronald Larèche had summoned Haiti’s deputies and senators for a Jun. 21, 2016 joint session, known as a National Assembly, to decide on the fate of Provisional President Jocelerme Privert, who became head of state through a political accord signed Feb. 5, 2016.

The accord says that the "mandate of the Provisional President is up to 120 days from the date of installation,” which was Feb. 14 until Jun. 14. “Where appropriate the National Assembly will take the necessary measures."

As the legislators gathered for the vote, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Parliament voicing their support for Privert. Ultimately, the National Assembly was not held because the parliamentarians were frightened by the anger and size of the street protests, saying their “security was not guaranteed because of demonstrators throwing rocks at the Legislative Palace.”

In fact, the National Assembly gambit was pure bluff. The parliamentary partisans of former President Michel Martelly, who stepped down in disgrace at the end of his term on Feb. 7, knew they had almost no chance of dislodging Privert. He has vowed to stay on until his rightfully elected successor takes power on Feb. 7, 2017, according to the calendar of the new Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

In the lower house, there are only 92 deputies (questionably elected in the 2015 elections) of the 119 seat chamber, and 53 have already vowed to support Privert staying on. Meanwhile, Privert has the support of 12 of the 22 senators in the 30 seat body. Any motion to oust Privert would have to pass both houses.

Just last week, on Jun. 13 when the 50^th Legislature reconvened, the National Assembly also failed to take a vote on Privert because his opponents knew they would fall short.

Meanwhile, the leading presidential candidates’ front known as the Group of Eight (G8) formally disbanded following the pull-out of Jean Henry Céant (Renmen Ayiti), who is unhappy with Privert’s staying on. Then four other former candidates – Sauveur Pierre Etienne (OPL), Eric Jean Baptiste  (MAS), Mario Andrésol (Independent), and Steven Benoît (Konviksyon) – threw their support behind LAPEH’s Jude Célestin, who had been the candidate of former President René Préval’s party in 2010.

Célestin and Moïse Jean-Charles (Pitit Desalin) are both arguing that the new presidential elections should be limited to just the three or four leading candidates of the Oct. 25, 2015 first-round, which has now been annulled. (Originally, there were 54.) Critics of this proposal say the fraudulent election cannot be partially scrapped, with front-runners cherry-picked out.

Both candidates also argue that Jovenel Moïse, the presidential candidate of Martelly’s PHTK, should be disqualified from participating in the new election scheduled for Oct. 9 because he allegedly engaged in massive fraud. Jovenel Moïse supposedly placed first in the first-round with 33% of the vote.

Great debate has surrounded the Feb. 5 Accord, about whether it is “legal” and “Constitutional” or not. Constitutional scholar Mirlande Manigat, who placed second in the 2011 presidential run-off, gave an exhaustive and well-reasoned assessment.

“ The election of Senator Privert references two texts,” she said. “On the one hand the Tripartite Agreement of February 5, which is a political agreement without constitutional and legal basis, but it has been widely accepted as a kind of desperate lifeline in the confusion and concerns at that time, without a necessary review of possible implications; [the accord’s] language, especially the famous grammatical expression ‘where appropriate’ [le cas échéant], is currently feeding commentary and extrapolations. The second [reference] is the second paragraph of Article 149 of the 1987 Amended Constitution. By chance in legal drafting, they both mention the 120 days that could be the basis of reference, but it should be emphasized that our constitutional and legal traditions manipulate time, and they often include no references but formal dates that are rarely observed as they usually come up against the tyranny of events. This is what is happening in the current debate."