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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 1, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian lawmakers ratified Michèle Pierre-Louis on Thursday to be the impoverished country’s prime minister, ending more than three months of political bickering and deadlock in Parliament.
Haiti’s Senate approved Ms. Pierre-Louis for the post by a 12-0 vote, making her the second woman to become prime minister of Haiti. 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 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 prime minister and repeatedly delayed votes on Ms. Pierre-Louis as they jockeyed for party position in the next cabinet.
Ms. Pierre-Louis, 61, is an educator who leads a branch of the Open Society Institute, founded by the billionaire George Soros. She was ratified by the Chamber of Deputies on July 17.
While political wrangling went on behind the scenes, public debate on Ms. Pierre-Louis’s nomination centered on claims that she was gay. Many in the socially conservative nation consider homosexuality to be immoral, and people in the clergy have denounced her.
Ms. 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.”
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