On Thursday, despite the about face on Bélizaire, there was no indication that his nomiantion would eventually be dropped by the controlling majority. If anything, signs pointed to the continued fracturing of the council as former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Claude Joseph publicly accused the minority members of the council and their supporters of engaging in racism and discrimination against his majority bloc.

Joseph said the three sectors now in the minority were involved with a powerful member of Haiti’s private sector to gain the majority on the council with Leblanc.

Joseph is one of the architects of the political alliance known as BMI along with former Sen. Moise Jean-Charles, who leads the Pitit Desalin party. Both have voting members on the council.

“When it was their majority it was good. But ours isn’t good,” Joseph said during an appearance on Radio Caraibes Thursday morning.

Singling out the private sector, Joseph continued. “The [narrative] of this group…is not just anti-democratic but it’s a [narrative] that is racist and discriminatory.”

He said that those with money in Haiti, the country’s economic elite, believe they are the only ones who are supposed to have the right and final word on everything.

As Joseph was speaking, Fritz Jean, the representative of the Montana Accord on the council, was appearing on another radio station, Magik 9. Jean took a much softer tone. He later told the Miami Herald that going forward, communication will be crucial to saving the project.

“We must convey to the populace our strong disapproval of the current actions. It’s imperative that the population understand the council’s composition, comprising sectors from diverse backgrounds, each offering unique perspectives on the necessary changes in the country,” he said.

He called the endeavor a clash of two projects: one decaying, responsible for the current chaos yet stubbornly refusing to fade, and the other, nascent but promising, still in its infancy.

“It’s vital that this message is crystal clear, emphasizing the urgency of embracing the emerging path for a better future,” Jean said.

During his radio interview, Jean, who was among the four candidates seeking the council’s presidency, said that one underlining problem is that some individuals view the new position of president as a traditional presidency when it is not. The president’s vote carries the same weight as the other six members, he said, and the president’s key role is to sign agreements, meeting with foreign leaders and carry out the majority’s decisions.

He has no issue with Leblanc, Jean said, but the prime minister’s selection and the deal that sealed it is another matter.

“We cannot have something closed where four people are going to take decisions on behalf of nine people,” Jean said. “What’s happened here needs to be revised so that we can work.”

“We are in a situation of crisis, where the institutions have been destroyed. We cannot be in a situation where posts have already been distributed,” he added.

He also issued a warning to his fellow council members, saying the minority will not simply be a rubber stamp for an unbreakable majority.

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