New Haiti PM faces ratification process

Pierre-Louis was ousted by the Senate last Friday, after less than a year in office, over what lawmakers said was her failure to promote economic recovery on the heels of four storms which devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation last year.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, November 2, 2009 – Days after ousting Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis, Haiti’s Senate is expected to ratify a new man for the position this week.

President Rene Preval has named Jean Max Bellerive, who was the Planning and External Cooperation Minister before Pierre-Louis was sacked and her Cabinet dissolved, to fill the vacant post.

Senate President Kelly Bastien said it would likely be swiftly approved "so as not to create a political vacuum".

He said the Senate will be convened this week for the ratification.

“The whole process should be completed before November 18," Bastien said.

Pierre-Louis was ousted by the Senate last Friday, after less than a year in office, over what lawmakers said was her failure to promote economic recovery on the heels of four storms which devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation last year.

She was not in attendance at the vote although she was summoned by the Senate to answer questions about US$197 million earmarked to help Haiti recover from the storms.

Pierre-Louis took up the prime ministerial position in September 2008, five months after her predecessor, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, was dismissed by the Senate during riots over the high cost of food.