Haiti enters new era of governing: Presidential council sworn in, prime minister resigns

—EDE/RED/Compromis Historique. The coalition led by former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Claude Joseph, who served in the government of former President Jovenel Moïse, finally settled on Smith Augustin, a former Haiti ambassador to the Dominican Republic, after two previous nominees pulled out.

—Fanmi Lavalas. The political party of former President Aristide chose architect and urban planner Leslie Voltaire, who studied at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and has a master’s degree in urban planning from Cornell University in New York. Voltaire, 75, is a former minister for Haitians living abroad. After Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake he was involved in reconstruction efforts and unsuccessfully ran for president in the election that followed. Educated in Mexico, he is fluent in Spanish, French, English and Creole.

—Montana Accord. The group is named after an Aug. 30, 2021, agreement signed at the Montana Hotel in Pétion-Ville, the wealthy suburb of Port-au-Prince, and is led by the Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis. The group has named Fritz Alphonse Jean, who served as interim prime minister of Haiti’s 2016 caretaker government. A former governor of the Banque de la République d’Haïti from 1998 to 2001, Jean has been involved in promoting development in the rural sectors of northern Haiti. He’s a U.S.-educated economist who is considered more of a technocrat than politician.

—Platform Pitit Desalin Party. After its leader, Jean-Charles Moïse, described the council as a seven-headed snake and rejected an offer to join the panel, the Platform Pitit Desalin decided to name a representative anyway and appointed Emmanuel Vertilaire, a judge from the northern region of Haiti.

—The private sector. Haiti’s influential private sector has faced its own internal differences after the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti said it was not consulted on naming a representative. A group representing employers’ associations and groups of Haitian businessmen and women has named Laurent Saint-Cyr as its representative on the presidential panel.

The two non-voting members are:

—Civil Society. Frinel Joseph, a pastor and former member of the electoral council, was named as the representative of civil society.

—Interfaith community. The Rally for a National and Sovereign Understanding has named Régine Abraham, an agronomist who has worked in public administration and is the only woman in the group.

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