(Reuters) – Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Monday called for renewed efforts to hold elections in the Caribbean country as his opponents push for the establishment of a transitional government to tackle escalating poverty. gang-related violence.
Ariel Henry’s opponents believe that he is no longer legitimate in power, this Monday having marked the end of the mandate of the late president Jovenel Mose who had chosen the Prime Minister just before his assassination last July.
Supporters of Ariel Henry believe that the head of government can be removed from office only by Parliament, which no longer sits due to the end of the legislature. They also argue that, in the past, prime ministers have remained in office beyond the end of the mandate of the president who appointed them.
During a speech, Ariel Henry declared that a poll was the only solution to the political impasse, rejecting the hypothesis of handing over power to a transitional government for two years, as proposed by an opposition group.
We must organize elections in order to let the Haitians freely choose the direction to give to the country, as it is their right, he said.
“Nobody has the authority or the right to organize a meeting at the hotel or abroad to decide, in small committees, who will be president or prime minister. All this is a distraction,” he added. .
Ariel Henry did not mention any timetable for the holding of elections, which initially requires the appointment by the government of an electoral committee.
(Report Gessika Thomas Fort Lauderdale and Brian Ellsworth Miami, with Ralph Tedy Erold Port-au-Prince; French version Jean Terzian)