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Bellerive May Remain Prime Minister in Next Administration

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Current Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive will end his term on May 14th as the new president Michel Martelly is inaugurated but there seems to be some interest, in all parties involved of retaining Bellerive for another term.

The Republic of Haiti allows its president to select his prime minister but the appointment must be ratified by the National Assembly. In other words, the Haitian Parliament, Senate and Deputies, must approve the president's selection.

Therefore, three parties are directly involved with the choosing of the next Prime Minister, the prospective himself, the President and the National Assembly.

According to a series of reports in the past month, mind you this is only speculation, it seems as though the signs are pointing towards a reappointment of incumbent Jean-Max Bellerive as the next Prime Minister of the republic.

Jean-Max Bellerive For his part, there is only so much an incumbent can say regarding their future when it is in the hand of others, so when asked by The Canadian Press , whether he could serve again as Prime Minister, Bellerive, "rebuffed" the question. Bel Politik put it as "REBUFF vle di... Li deside li pap reponn kesyon-an... " He chose to not respond.

This question was posed to Bellerive after a meeting with the president-elect on Wednesday, in which he and Michel Martelly discussed the future of non-governmental agencies in Haiti. Bellerive left that meeting proclaiming that the thousands of NGOs must register with the government and be held accountable. A message the President-elect reiterated throughout the campaign trail.

The Parliament Senate President, Kelly Bastien, spoke before the release of the preliminary results of the presidential elections to Voice of America News where he showed favor with keeping Bellerive as Prime Minister. Bastien is a member of the INITE Party that holds a majority in the National Assembly, therefore holds, perhaps, the decision to ratify or not, the (future) President's selection for PM.

Kelly Bastien interview with Voice of America

Michel Martelly In the President-elect's first interview as the assumed President of Haiti he spoke with the Miami Herald. When asked a question regarding the post of Prime Minister as it relates to Jean-Max Bellerive, Martelly did not present the break-from-the-past response that some would expect but gave a diplomatic response:

"...we have many candidates and I will not speculate on who... but one thing I can tell you is that he is a talented politician. I believe that we haven't seen results because of lack of leadership from the presidency itself in Haiti...
... I am not saying that he is the one that I will be proposing but he remains a smart and young man and I will probably, and definitely, use his services."

It is important to note that the President-elect is well versed on the constitutional requirements of the Prime Minister, beyond his predecessors. He mentioned in the interview to the Miami Herald, that the Prime Minister still remains the chief of state.

Source: The Canadian Press , Bel Politik , Voice of America News , The Miami Herald on Youtube