Haiti’s Parliament Backs New Premier
Prime Minister-designate Robert Malval won final parliamentary approval Wednesday night, clearing the way for lifting of punishing, worldwide embargos on Haiti imposed after a 1991 army coup.
Malval was ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s choice for premier under an accord with the army allowing for Aristide’s restoration to power.
Parliament’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, by a 49-0 vote with 16 abstentions, gave Malval’s policies and Cabinet choices a vote of confidence, then broke into applause. The Senate gave its approval earlier.
Under a U.N. plan to bring Haiti back to democracy, the embargo will be lifted when Malval takes office. He said Tuesday that he wants to be sworn in by Aristide in Washington, where the exiled president lives. But no date has been set.
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