Haitian parliament elects interim president ahead of April elections

Former Haitian Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert was elected on Sunday as the provisional president of the National Assembly, pending new elections in no more than 120 days.

Privert, 62, was voted as the interim leader at 03:33 a.m. local time (22:33 a.m. GMT) and sworn 10 minutes later, Haitian daily Haiti Libre reported.

His transitional government is to organize general elections beginning on April 24. The winner will then start a five-year term on May 14.

The vote followed an extended legislative session that began "several hours late" on Saturday and had to be suspended at least once "to resolve various different internal" disagreements on procedure and protocols, according to Haiti Libre.

Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council suspended a scheduled presidential run-off just two days before voters would start going to the polls on Jan. 24, due to rising violence and threats in the country.

The first round of the presidential run-off last October sparked unrest among the opposition and its supporters, who accused the ruling party of manipulating the vote, allegations that forced elections to be canceled twice since last December.

The elevation to interim leader is tremendous transformation for Privert, who was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a massacre of opponents of Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 2004.

The charges were eventually dismissed after Privert was jailed for 26 months. Endi