Claude Joseph, Haiti's Acting Prime Minister, Is Stepping Down
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Claude Joseph, the prime minister who immediately took control of Haiti’s government after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse this month, is stepping down, the nation’s minister for elections said in a text message Monday.
Ever since the president’s assassination on July 7, Haitian politicians have grappled for control of the government. Mr. Joseph had been scheduled to be replaced the week of the killing, but the newly appointed prime minister, Ariel Henry, had yet to be sworn in. Both declared themselves to be the legitimate prime ministers.
The remaining members of the nation’s Senate also said the Senate president should lead the nation, igniting a caustic dispute over who should govern. At least one senator had called Mr. Joseph’s move to run the country and impose a state of siege after the assassination a form of a coup.
The political standoff was made all the more complicated by the fact that many of the nation’s democratic institutions had been hollowed out during Mr. Moïse’s time in office. Only 10 sitting senators remained out of 30 because the terms of the other 20 had expired and elections were not held to replace them. The lower house is entirely vacant — its members’ terms expired last year — leaving Mr. Moïse to govern by decree for more than a year before he was killed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/claude-joseph-haitis-acting-prime-minister-is-stepping-down/ar-AAMkcTk
