Fritz Belizaire is now Prime Minister of Haiti. PHOTO COURTESY OF RFI.FR

Miami – While Haiti remains under siege by armed gangs, the country’s new transitional presidential council has selected the next prime minister, but not without controversy.

Edgard Leblanc Fils, 68, was named president of the nine-member council transitional team and Fritz Belizair, a former minister of youth and sports, was subsequently selected as Haiti’s new prime minister to replace Ariel Henry who resigned in March.

But the minority members of the council with seven voting members, argued they didn’t consider other candidates or evaluate their credentials as the voting bloc of four won the majority.

Michelle Austin, one of the founding members of Miami’s Haitian Foundation for Democracy, an organization which engages in Haiti Diaspora and promotes policies that foster Democracy, said the voting was not consistent with the agreed upon process.

She said the voting of Fils and Belizaire wasn’t consistent with Democracy and probably predetermined behind closed doors while other candidates who were qualified as well were left out.

Austin said the process which was adopted required each voting council member to pick his choice and the majority would then elect the president and prime minister.

If a majority can’t be reached, then a second round of voting is scheduled and possibly a third until the council picks a president and prime minister with either a 6-1, 5-2, or 4-3 vote.

"They didn’t do a formal vote," Austin said. "The vote says hey, this is our president and prime minister. No other names or individuals were considered for president and prime minister. The vote could’ve been 5-2, or 6-1 but no one would know because they didn’t consider other names that were presented."

According to the Miami Herald, three voting council members accused the others of breaching the procedures on how to pick a president and prime minister and threatened to step down if the votes weren’t rescinded.

The surprise turn of events occurred after the political groups on the council switched their last-minute support from former Sen. Louis Gérald Gilles, who represents the December 21 coalition on the panel, and cemented a deal backed by Gilles, the political party Pitit Desalin and the coalition known as EDE/RED/Compromis Historique.

An engineer and co-founder of the Organization of the People in Struggle, Leblanc is part of a collective of political parties whose membership includes PHTK, the political party of former President Michel Martelly.

He was president of the Haitian Senate from 1995 to 2000 during the first administration of President René Préval.

Bélizaire, who is also an engineer, served as public works minister 200708, during Préval’s second presidential term.

Haiti has been in political turmoil since the 2021 assisnation of President Jovenel Moise as gangs have taken control over the capital Port-au-Prince and other cities in the Caribbean nation.

Gang members have been responsible for thousands of deaths, kidnapping, rapping women and cutting off medical, water and food supplies.

Also, the armed gangs have sieged police stations, emptied some of the jails, shut down airports and burned down hospitals and pharmacies. A new prime minister and presidential council were among the topics at a summit among Caribbean leaders in Jamaica to help Haiti negotiate with gang members to bring some kind of peace to the island and regain government stability.

Kenya multi force units were sent in to restore law and order and beef up security while Haitian-American leaders continue to urge the Biden administration to send in U.S. military troops.

Austin said with the discord between council members over the selection of the president and new prime minister, she hopes for the best for Haiti, where she has family members and friends. "They are safe for the moment but it’s still not safe there," she said. "I care so much for the people in the country, and if it needs some kind of security for people I would be happy. But the best chance for that is having unity but you can’t have unity without following the voting process."

Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, said Haiti is finally tackling its leadership crisis.

He said Henry was unpopular among Haitians and became prime minister with the push of international support. "His tenuous hold on power led to increasingly brazen acts of sabotage and violence by astonishingly well-armed and increasingly independent street gangs jockeying for territory and dominance," Esperance said. "In early March, the gangs united to declare war on the state, attacking the airports and police stations."

Esperance added: "For more than a dozen years, Haiti’s leaders have dismantled democratic institutions and relied on corruption and gangs to maintain their control."