Parliament rejects President’s pick for PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The Haitian parliament has rejected President Michel Martelly’s nominee for Prime Minister, Daniel-Gerard Rouzier.
Martelly said he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision but will abide by it.
Forty-two deputies voted against Rouzier’s nomination, most of them members of former president Rene Preval’s Unity Party, while 19 deputies voted in favour and three abstained.
“We will write to the president to let him know the Chamber of Deputies has rejected Daniel-Gerard Rouzier’s nomination as prime minister, and ask him to nominate a new prime minister,” said Speaker Saurel Jacinthe.
In debates before the vote, several deputies expressed concern that Rouzier was a businessman, pointing to a possible conflict of interest if he became prime minister.
Rouzier, who is close to Martelly, studied in the United States and has a Master’s degree in Accounting. He founded E-Power, a company that supplies many Haitians with electricity and holds government contracts.
Lawmakers also criticized him for being the honorary counsel general of Jamaica, a post they claimed that is incompatible with him becoming prime minister.
Some parliamentarians also accused Rouzier of tax evasion and failing to present a copy of the passport on which he regularly travels. The Haitian Constitution prohibits high-ranking officials from holding dual citizenship. (CMC)