On the morning of April 30, 2024, the former senator and president of the Senate from 1995 to 2000 Edgar Leblanc, son of the political party Organization of the People in Struggle (OPL) and representative of the January 30 Collective within the Presidential Council, was finally chosen by certain of his fellow advisors with 4 votes out of 7 to chair the Presidential Transitional Council informed the audience at the reception Villa, one of the 2 advisors, playing the role of non-voting observers, Frinel Joseph officiating as rapporteur.
The advisor continued in his presentation of the circumstances to point out that it is “During the discussions this morning with the 7 voting members of this Council, a majority was reached and an agreement was found for Edgard Leblanc Fils to be elected president of the Cpt” and that “This agreement only binds this majority » He refers to Louis Gérald Gilles (agreement of December 21, 2022), Smith Augustin (of the Democratic Resistance/Engaged for Development / Red-Ede platform, Edgard Leblanc Fils (Collective of political parties of January 30, 2023, the grouping Historical Compromise and Emmanuel Vertilaire (Pitit Desalin political party) This indicates that the choice was not unanimous within the Council since the competitors Parti Fanmi Lavalas, the Montana group and the Private Sector did not exactly appreciate it. the outcome.
In any case, according to the requirements of article 13 of the decree relating to the creation, organization and functioning of the council, Leblanc will have a function of representation and coordination of the council and also, according to article 9, he is skilled in representing the presidential council and its formal decisions, in public, legal and diplomatic matters.
“So no need to have elections, we placed the ballot boxes and the voting booth for nothing. The majority were well cleared. This is what has been done “
This choice made behind the scenes of the Prime Minister surprised everyone. All the more, he spared the country the hideous spectacle of the electoral office set up and the ballot boxes installed in the room to decide between the 7 voting members of the Council, four of whom were candidates.
They were Louis Gérald Gilles from the December 21 Accord, Edgard Leblanc Fils from the January 30 Collective, Fritz Alphonse Jean from the Montana Accord and Leslie Voltaire from the Fanmi Lavalas party. It should be noted that this election has already been postponed more than 4 times, given the disagreements, marooning by some, boycotts by others or lack of consensus or compromise between the 4 candidates.
The configuration of out of a total number of 7 individuals, four were candidates to lead the Council illustrates the level of awareness for personal interests within the traditional Haitian political class to the detriment of the country. In this regard, we could no longer be surprised when usually more than 200 individuals stand as candidates in the presidential elections.
In the same vein, the majority constituted by advisors Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire, Louis Gérald Gilles and President Edgard Leblanc Fils also chose citizen Fritz Bélizaire as Prime Minister. He was a former minister of youth and sports under the presidency of René Préval in 2007
In fact, this majority achieved within the Presidential Transitional Council will allow, among others, the Pitit Desalin Party of Moise Jean Charles who was present in the room of the Welcome Villa as well as his new ally Claude Joseph of the Party Those committed to development (EDE) to position itself for all practical purposes.
Before the end of the meeting, the rapporteur, Frinel Joseph gave the floor to former senator Edgard Leblanc who in a few words on the podium thanked his colleagues in a speech for the occasion. He also indicated “that concrete steps will be taken to form a government and make crucial security decisions. He added that the transitional presidential council had held meetings with the highest officials of the army, the national police and the special units responsible for the security of the national palace, in order to learn about the situation and seek their support to restore order and security.”
Furthermore, the Organization of American States (OAS) through its Secretary General Luis Almagro welcomed the installation of the presidency and the appointment of the engineer Edgard Leblanc Fils as president of the Transition Council in a note on X (formerly Twitter). On the other hand, she took the opposite view on the appointment of Prime Minister Fritz Bélizaire. Thus Almagro indicates in his diplomatic note that “the transparent and rule-compliant appointment of a Prime Minister as well as the rapid formation of a new government are vital for the stability of the country.”
