TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Haitian Chamber Votes Down 2nd Choice For Premier

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: June 13, 2008

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Parliament on Thursday rejected the nomination of one of President Rene Preval's advisers as the next prime minister of Haiti, which has now gone two months with its No. 2 political post empty.

The Chamber of Deputies voted 57-26, with six abstentions, against Robert Manuel's nomination, arguing that he does not own property in Haiti and is not registered to vote, both of which are basic qualifications to be prime minister.

Manuel, a former security chief and close friend of Preval, is the second nominee the lower house has rejected this year. Preval's first choice, banker Ericq Pierre, was voted down last month on a technicality related to his citizenship papers.

The Senate ousted Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis on April 12 after days of riots against soaring food prices.

Manuel's nomination was blocked by the powerful Progressive Parliamentarians Conference, or CPP, a cross-party voting bloc that includes 52 of the chambers' 99 members.

The group met with Preval on Wednesday to discuss the nomination but was not persuaded to support 55-year-old Manuel, said legislator and group spokesman Levaillant Louis Jeune.

"The CPP is not blocking the country. We just want to do things another way and make sure the constitution is respected," Louis Jeune told The Associated Press.

Several people who were not members of the voting bloc also voted to keep Manuel out of the post, which oversees the government and chooses Cabinet ministers. The prime minister is appointed by the president, who is in contrast directly elected, and must be approved by parliament.

Without a prime minister, the country is unable to negotiate for aid with foreign countries or implement many programs to address food prices or kidnappings in a country where 80 percent of people live on less than $2 a day.

Manuel served as national security undersecretary during Preval's first term in the late 1990s.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT