Caribbean & Central America - July 2008 (ISSN 1741-4458)

On 17 July Haiti's lower chamber ratified President René Préval's third choice for prime minister, Michí¨le Duvivier Pierre-Louis. The vote - of 61:1 with 20 abstentions - came as a relief, as the country has been without a prime minister for over three months and Préval's previous two choices of candidate had been rejected. Pierre-Louis's ratification depends on her approval by the senate, however, which is by no means guaranteed.

Ever since former prime minister Jacques Edouard Alexis was ousted from office on 12 April over his handling of violent riots at rising food prices [RC-08-04], Haiti has been in a state of institutional paralysis. Both Préval's previous nominations, Ericq Pierre and Robert Manuel had been blocked by a new majority congressional faction, the Concertation des Parlementaires pour le Progrí¨s (CPP), which controls 53 of the 99 seats and includes 20 dissidents from his ruling coalition. 

While both Pierre and Manuel were officially rejected for technicalities, in failing to meet certain constitutional requirements, Pierre subsequently claimed that his refusal to pay off CPP deputies was the reason for their no-vote, while Manuel's supporters speculated that deputies had accepted bribes from drug gangs and criminal groups to vote against him.

However Pierre-Louis, an economist and former advisor to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide [RC-08-06], would appear to meet the constitutional criteria. It is also the case that, unlike Pierre and Manuel, she made efforts to win support from other parties, holding meetings with various legislators. Nevertheless some sectors have expressed concern over allegations that she may be homosexual, apparently on the grounds that this could affect her “morality".

• Senate approval

Michí¨le Duvivier Pierre-Louis's final ratification as prime minister has yet to be approved by the senate later this week. A newly formed bloc of 10 senators have already said, however, that their vote will depend on negotiations over issues including the make-up of government (which parties are to be included and which ministries they will be assigned); a proposed privatisation scheme; and the handling of a number of judicial cases.