Haiti lawmakers ratify 2nd female prime minister

Jonathan M. Katz

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian lawmakers ratified Michèle Pierre-Louis to be the impoverished country’s prime minister last Thursday, ending more than three months of political bickering and deadlock in Parliament.

Haiti’s Senate ratified Pierre-Louis to be the country’s No. 2 leader by a 12-0 vote, making her the second woman to become prime minister. There were five abstentions.

The decision ends a stalemate that has left the Caribbean country unable to sign foreign aid deals, arrange an international donors’ conference or hold overdue elections for a third of the nation’s Senate.

The deadlock began when senators dismissed former Prime Minister Jacques-Édouard Alexis on April 12 after a week of riots over soaring food prices left at least seven people dead and destroyed hundreds of businesses.

Lawmakers rejected President René Préval’s first two nominees to replace the premier and repeatedly delayed votes on Pierre-Louis as they jockeyed for party position in the next Cabinet.

Pierre-Louis, 61, is an educator who heads a branch of billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute. She was ratified by the Chamber of Deputies on July 17.

While political wrangling went on behind the scenes, public debate on Pierre-Louis’ nomination centered on claims that she is gay. Many in the socially conservative nation consider homosexuality to be immoral and clergy had denounced her.

Pierre-Louis denied the claims in a local radio interview on Wednesday.

“I have already said that it was slander and lies,” she told Radio Caraibes. “I hope that this debate will be closed and we will move on to serious things.”

The matter was discussed at length in both chambers of Parliament during ratification votes. Senators said they only decided to support her nomination after receiving assurances that the claims were false during negotiations with Préval.

Though the victories in both houses mean Pierre-Louis will now be addressed as “Madam Prime Minister,” her trials in Parliament will continue.

She must now return for another vote in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies to win approval for a government program and proposed cabinet. For that she will need 16 of the 18 votes in the current Senate, four more than she received last Thursday.

Haiti’s first female prime minister was Claudette Werleigh, who served for less than a year under former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in late 1995 and early 1996.

Another woman, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, served briefly as the country’s provisional president in 1990 following a military coup.

(Associated Press)