Haiti agrees on an interim govt to hold elections
Print Edition
The interim prime minister who has run Haiti since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise agreed on Monday to step aside and make way for an inclusive government that will hold elections, raising guarded hopes for more stability in the violence-wracked nation.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph was to hand over yesterday to a new government whose primary task will be to hold elections quickly, a government official said.
The government will be led by Ariel Henry, who was tapped by Moise to replace Joseph just days before the controversial Haitian president was shot dead in his home in Port-au-Prince in the early hours of July 7.
In the hours after the assassination, Joseph declared a “state of siege” and said he was in charge, launching a power tussle in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Monday’s announcement raised hopes of ending the uncertainty and came after the United States, which exerts wide influence in Haiti, had joined other powers in making clear that Joseph should make way.
The State Department welcomed Monday’s deal, while noting it was fragile, with spokesman Ned Price saying “the United States was encouraged to see Haitian political and civil actors working to form a unity government that can stabilize the country.”
Haiti has no working parliament and no workable succession process, and was already mired deep in a political and security crisis when the 53-year-old Moise was killed.
Joseph and Henry met for several days on forming a more inclusive government, said the official, who is close to the prime minister’s office.
“There will be no president of the Republic. The mission of this new government will be to organize general elections as soon as possible,” he added.
Joseph will return to his former post as foreign minister in the new government.
Moise had ruled Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed in the wake of multiple disputes, including on when his own term ended.
As well as presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti had been due to have a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The official did not give a timeline for when new elections would be held.
The balance tipped in Henry’s favor over the weekend when an informal group of ambassadors — including from the United States, France and United Nations — known as the “Core Group” threw their support behind him.
The group called on “designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry to continue the mission entrusted to him” — leaving out Joseph — to form a “consensual and inclusive government.”
A diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, was scheduled to travel to Haiti in the coming days after a trip a week ago by a team that included the top White House advisor on Latin America.
Haiti’s interim leadership had encouraged the US — which occupied the country for two decades a century ago — to send forces to improve security after much of the capital was overrun by gangs.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
