Members to National Transitional Council named

PORT-AU-PRINCE (CMC):

The 52 members the National Transitional Council (CNT) tasked with electing a provisional president and a prime minister for Haiti were installed on Sunday.

Their nominations formed part of the August 30 agreement allowing for Haiti’s main political parties to establish a transition government until the holding of presidential elections and a constitutional referendum next year.

The Montana Accord allowed for the establishment of the CNT made up of the 52 members, appointed by parties, political groups and civil society organisations, who have the task of validating the government’s roadmap and its composition.

The Montana Accord “for a Haitian solution to the crisis” currently includes the signatures of 418 civil society organisations, 105 popular organisations, 85 political parties and groups, and 313 personalities.

In August, the Commission for the Search for a Solution to the Haitian Crisis (CRSHC) said the course had now been set on the creation of a monitoring office composed of 21 members, including 13 from the CRSHC, three representatives of civil society, three representatives of political parties, and two members of the popular sector.

The CRSHC said it was inviting all Haitians to read the agreement signed on September 11 and to append their signature online, if they wish to support the accord.

The agreement established the holding of presidential elections by the end of 2022. It also included a national constituent assembly made of 33 members appointed by institutions and civil society organisations.

The assembly will have three months to prepare a new constitution, to be voted on in a referendum by Haitians.

The agreement establishes a council of ministers under the leadership of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

“I have the assurance that this agreement will make it possible to conduct, in harmony and good understanding, the affairs of the state during the interim period that I wish [to be] as short as possible, in order to achieve our main common objective, which is a return to the normal functioning of our democratic institutions on new bases, in a secure and stable environment,” Henry said in August.