Haiti President Michel Martelly Steps Down From Office Without Successor
President Michel Martelly has stepped down from office following the end of his term despite not having a successor to assume the presidency.
CNN reported Sunday that two presidential elections in October and December were postponed after being marred with accusations of fraud. On the other hand, before Martelly left the position, a deal for a transitional government was met.
Under the new deal, the parliament of Haiti will choose an interim president who will serve for a 120-day term and verify a consent prime minister. With this, an election is slated to take place on April 24, and the elected president will take the office on May 14.
Terms of the new deal also include that the prime minister will remain until an interim president has been elected by the chambers of parliament.
On the other hand, a research associate said the issue of whether fraud during the October election will be further examined or not still raises some concerns.
"The key for whoever is provisional president is to restore credibility to an electoral system which no longer has the trust of the Haitian people," said Jake Johnston from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
"Less than a quarter of all registered voters participated in October. In order to achieve this, first, there must be an investigation and verification of the Oct. 25 vote," he added.
In his last speech to parliament, Martelly said he is leaving the post in order to "contribute to constitutional normalcy."
"I said I would not hand over power to those that don't believe in elections, but the Parliament guaranteed that they will do everything to make sure the process carries on," Martelly said in his speech, as noted by NY Times Sunday.
54-year-old Martelly was the 56th president of Haiti. He was a musician and businessman before he got elected as the president of the Caribbean country in 2011.
During his speech, he also said that his greatest regret was when the January election was postponed amid security concerns and accusations of fraud.
