Haiti - parliament - vote

Haiti's parliament rejects PM nominee again

Friday 13 June 2008

Haitian lawmakers voted against President Rene Preval's latest nomination to the position of prime minister, Robert Manuel, on Thursday. The legislators rejected Preval's previous nomination one month ago.

Haiti's parliament on Thursday rejected President Rene Preval's latest pick for prime minister, Robert Manuel, one month after it turned down a previous candidate.
  
Lawmakers voted 57 to 22 in favor of a committee's recommendation to reject Manuel's nomination on the basis that he was ineligible because he fell short of constitutional requirements.
  
"The majority of deputies having voted for the committee's recommendation, the prime minister-designate's nomination is rejected," parliament Speaker Eric Jean-Jacques said.
  
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been without a prime minister for two months since Jacques-Edouard Alexis resigned in April after a no-confidence vote following food riots that killed six people and wounded 200.
  
Lawmakers rejected Preval's first nominee, Ericq Pierre, a close friend of the president, on May 12.
  
The commission said Manuel did not meet constitutional requirements for the job based on documents he had submitted. They noted in particular that he had not resided in Haiti the last five years, as is required.
  
Manuel also rushed to obtain a citizenship card and a voting card the day after he was tapped to become prime minister, the commission said.
  
Manuel, 55, was minister of public security during Preval's first term in office (1996-2001). More recently he served as a special advisor to Preval, after organizing his 2006 presidential campaign.
  
An architect, writer and poet, Manuel is a former president of the association of Haitian writers.