PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s newly installed transitional council chose former Sports Minister Fritz Belizaire as the country’s prime minister Tuesday as it presses forward in its monumental task of trying to establish a stable new government amid stifling violence.
Belizaire replaces Michel Patrick Boisvert, the former minister of economy and finance who was the current interim prime minister.
The nine-member transitional council, seven of whom have voting rights, is choosing a new prime minister and Cabinet in a bid to help quell gang violence that is choking the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond.
Belizaire had the support of four of the voting members. After announcing his appointment, the council went back behind closed doors to discuss the Cabinet.