UN development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti’s new prime minister on Tuesday evening, almost a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council tried to elect someone else to the job.
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UN development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti’s new prime minister on Tuesday evening, almost a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council tried to elect someone else to the job.
The long-awaited move comes as gangs continue to terrorize the capital Port-au-Prince, opening fire in once peaceful neighborhoods and using heavy machinery to demolish several police stations and prisons.
Councilor Louis Gérald Gilles told The Associated Press that six of the seven council members with voting rights chose Conille earlier Tuesday. He said one member, Laurent St. Cyr, was not in Haiti and therefore did not vote.
Conille has been UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean since January 2023 and previously served as Prime Minister of Haiti from October 2011 to May 2012 under then-President Michel Martelly. He replaces Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was appointed interim Prime Minister after Ariel Henry resigned by letter at the end of April.
Henry was on an official trip to Kenya when a coalition of powerful gangs launched coordinated attacks on February 29, taking control of police stations, shooting at Haiti’s main international airport and storming the country’s two largest prisons, killing more than 4,000 prisoners were released.
Henry was left out of the attacks, while the airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince remained closed for almost three months.
Gang violence continues to rise in parts of Haiti’s capital and beyond as Conille takes the helm of the troubled Caribbean country ahead of the UN-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya and other countries.
Conille studied medicine and public health and helped develop health care in impoverished communities in Haiti, where he helped coordinate reconstruction efforts after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
He worked at the United Nations for several years before Martelly appointed him prime minister in 2011. Conille resigned less than a year later after clashes with the president and his cabinet over an investigation into government officials with dual nationality, which is not allowed by law. The Constitution of Haiti.
Conille has a tough task ahead of him: quelling rampant gang violence while helping lift Haiti out of deep poverty, with inflation reaching a record 29%, according to the most recent data available. In recent years, gangs that control at least 80% of Port-au-Prince have displaced more than 360,000 people from their homes, and they continue to control key routes from the capital to Haiti’s northern and southern regions, often disrupting the transportation of critical goods are paralyzed. goods.
Conille’s election as prime minister comes just weeks after former Haitian Sports Minister Fritz Bélizaire was chosen for the post in late April by a four-member coalition within the nine-member transitional council, in a surprise announcement that angered many. Critics said proper procedure was not followed as prescribed by the framework the council established, so a new process to choose a prime minister was initiated, with dozens of names submitted for the post.
The lengthy process has been criticized by many, including the Montana Accord, a Haitian civil society group that has a representative on the council.
In a statement Tuesday, the group accused the council of not taking “follow-up measures” since its installation because “people’s suffering continues to worsen as the gangs take control of more and more territory and commit more crimes.”
It also accused the council of not being transparent in choosing a new prime minister, saying, among other things, that it did not publicly share the criteria used or the names submitted.
Liné Balthazar, chairman of the Tet Kale party, called on the council for transparency in an interview with Magik9, a local radio station, on Monday, saying the selection of a prime minister appeared improvised.
In addition to selecting a new prime minister, the nine-member council, seven of which have voting rights, must also appoint a provisional electoral committee, a requirement before elections can take place. The council’s non-renewable mandate expires on February 7, 2026, on which date a new president will be sworn in.
In addition to electing a new prime minister, the council is also responsible for selecting a new cabinet and holding a general election by the end of next year.
The council members are Emmanuel Vertilaire of Petit Desalin, a party led by former senator and presidential candidate Jean-Charles Moïse; Smith Augustin for EDE/RED, a party led by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph; Fritz Alphonse Jean of the Montana Accord; Leslie Voltaire for Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide; Louis Gérald Gilles for the December 21 coalition supporting former Prime Minister Ariel Henry; Edgard Leblanc Fils for the January 30 Collective, which represents parties including that of former president Michel Martelly; and Laurent Saint-Cyr for the private sector.
