Off the wire
• Chicago agricultural commodities mixed  • UN Security Council extends mandate for experts' panel in Sudan  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end mixed amid Yellen's comments  • Roundup: Slipping crude oil pull Toronto stocks slightly lower  • Berlin move 3-2 past Heidenheim in German Cup quarterfinals  • EU launches public consultation for granting China market economy status  • New train arrives from China to Macedonia  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar mixed on Yellen's speech  • Urgent: U.S. stocks end mixed on Yellen's comments  • Illicit drugs promote violence, impede sustainable development, UN chief warns  
You are here: 　 Home

Haiti begins process to install interim leader

Xinhua, February 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Haiti on Wednesday called on candidates interested in running for the post of provisional president to step forward.

A special bicameral commission in charge of organizing an election for interim leader launched "a call for candidates ... to fill the vacuum left by the departure from power of President Michel Joseph Martelly," local daily Haiti Libre reported Wednesday.

Martelly's five-year term ended on Feb. 7, with no one to succeed him after a presidential runoff was postponed by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) just two days before voters were to go to the polls on Jan. 24.

The CEP said it was canceling the vote due to at least two attacks on polling stations, presumably by supporters of the opposition candidate who were unhappy with the outcome of the first round, which showed the ruling party candidate came out ahead, despite earlier polls giving his opponent a clear lead.

Those interested in serving as interim president have until 11 a.m. Friday "to present themselves at Haitian parliament, with the necessary documents," the daily said.

Following Martelly's departure from office, the president of the National Assembly, Jocelerme Privert, on Sunday said the legislative body will elect an interim leader to head government until new elections are scheduled.

"The wheel of the Republic continues inexorably turning pending the installation of the provisional president to be elected by the National Assembly," Privert wrote in an open letter to the nation. Endit