Haiti: Prime Minister Evans Paul to resign so consensus gov’t can be formed

Haiti’s prime minister is expected to resign as part of an effort to form an interim government to take over from outgoing President Michel Martelly, two senior government sources said, after the run-off elections slated for January 24 was postponed.

Martelly, who heads Haiti’s government, is due to leave office on Sunday but has no elected successor.

The opposition does not want elections organized under Martelly, or Prime Minister Evans Paul, who is considered to be part of the president’s administration.

Paul wrote his resignation letter on Monday, a senior source in his office told reporters. A second government source said Martelly was expecting the letter but had not yet received it.

Under a proposal drawn up by Martelly and leaders of parliament, Paul’s replacement would be chosen by consensus and approved by parliament and the president this week, lawmaker Gary Bodeau said.

The new prime minister would run the country jointly with a council of ministers after Martelly leaves office on February 7, Bodeau said.

Opposition candidate Jude Célestin had refused to take part in the January vote, which he called “a farce”. Haiti has been working, since the 1980s to build a stable democracy in the wake of the decades-long rule of the Duvalier family.

Bodeau said the proposal specified that the new government would have to organize elections and hand over power by May.

Source: Reuters