All the names of the personalities to be included in the Presidential Council were submitted on Thursday to CARICOM and the US State Department, CaribbeanTelevisionNetwork has learned from a source close to the Caribbean community.
The information was also confirmed by the State Department spokesman at the daily press conference. “My understanding is that, in the last few hours, several of the entities – that are going to – make up the transitional council have submitted their names,” revealed Matthew Miller, who promises that the US will “continue to work with CARICOM and with our international partners, and first and foremost with the Haitians themselves, to try to pursue a path toward the return of democracy and free and fair elections in Haiti.”
The members of the CP are due to be installed shortly, according to the same source, which did not, however, provide any details on the names of the personalities involved.
Haitian stakeholders had until Wednesday to communicate their choice to the international community. On Thursday afternoon, CTN learned that Fanmi Lavalas had nominated Lesly Voltaire, the Collectif des partis du 30 Janvier had chosen Edgard Leblanc, and the Montana group had submitted the name of its president-elect Fritz Alphonse Jean, while the private sector was represented by Laurent St-Cyr.
The formation of the Presidential Council caused dissension within the signatories of the December 21 Accord, who were leading with the resigning de facto Prime Minister, Ariel Henry. Three different groups of members or allies of the resigned provisional government each sent in a name: Vickerson Garnier, Levaillant Louis-Jeune and Charles Tardieu.
The Council arouses controversy
Some of the country’s political and civil society leaders have criticized the formation of this body. Jean Renel Sénatus’s Lòd Demokratik party is concerned by CARICOM’s decision to “impose” a 9-member presidential council on the country, 2 of whom are observers. Instead, LD supports the choice of a judge from the Cour de cassation as provisional president.
Lòd Demokratik also notes the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been kept out of the country for some 19 days.
Members of the “Congrès national de Ouanaminthe pour la nouvelle Haïti” also reject the establishment of a Presidential Council to lead the transition.
They continue to advocate a two-headed executive with a provisional president drawn from the Court of Cassation and a consensus Prime Minister, chosen in consultation with the political class, civil society and other stakeholders, said former deputy Serge Jean-Louis, a member of the “Congrès national de Ouanaminthe pour la nouvelle Haïti”.
The president of the national platform of the Haitian popular sector, close to the former PHTK regime, Yanick Mézile, also criticizes the formation of a presidential council.
This body will have a negative impact on Haiti’s already meagre budget, and risks reinforcing corruption within the public administration, according to PLANSPA’s number 1.
The Collectif du 4 décembre, a Haitian civil society organization, is critical of the decision to set up a Presidential Council to manage Haiti’s transition.
The Collective’s General Coordinator, Jean-Robert Argant, denounced the move as “senseless” and called on the embryo of the Haitian armed forces to take control of power and then hand it over to the most senior judge on the Court of Cassation.