Boniface Alexandre

Boniface Alexandre ( born July 31, 1936 in Ganthier ) is a Haitian judge, politician and served as acting president of Haiti.

Biography

Study and career

Alexandre graduated from post-school study of law and, in particular, received the support of his uncle, the lawyer, and later Prime Minister Martial Célestin. After completing his studies he was twenty-five years as a lawyer at Cabinet Lamarre, where he specialized as a lawyer specializing in business contracts and divorce proceedings.

1990 he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court ( Cour suprême ). In June 2001, President Jean -Bertrand Aristide appointed him then as President of the Supreme Court. As such, he gained a reputation as a respected judge within a viewed as corrupt legal system. In addition, he joined as chief judge for the fight against corruption and incompetence in the courts. Besides his work as a judge, he worked as a professor of law at the Université d' État d' Haïti in Port -au -Prince.

On 25 April 2003, he was made ​​an honorary citizen of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Acting President of Haiti from 2004 to 2006

After the deposition and the flight of President Aristide, he was sworn in by the Constitution of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in the early morning hours of February 29, 2004 as Acting President.

Although he took office, Article 149 of the Haitian Constitution, its ratification by the Parliament, which since January 2004 but had no meeting since the election time of most MPs had ended. Under the constitution, the holding of new elections was also provided after 45 days until the expiration of 90 days after the resignation of the incumbent, with him as acting president, however, own candidacy was prohibited. In addition, he expressed his personal unwillingness to remain in the office of the incumbent President on these constitutional maximum time after even the first on 10 March 2004 appointed by him acting Prime Minister Gérard Latortue no longer wanted to remain in office.

Although Alexandre maintained close ties to former President Aristide, he did not belong to the Parti Lavalas ( " Flaming flood ").

Shortly after his appointment as acting president accused him of political opponents of Aristide to close relations with the previous system before and that he was not active enough as president of the Supreme Court to declare the independence of the Supreme Court of the executive.

One of his first actions as president was to submit an official request to the UN Security Council to send a multinational UN peacekeeping force for the production of public order in Haiti, which was granted by the UN Security Council shortly thereafter.

Although the rebel leader Guy Philippe as declared their willingness to cooperate with President Alexandre, especially American politicians saw his role in resolving the conflict in Haiti as a subordinate and his government as merely a transitional government.

In his first speech as president after its official inauguration on March 8, 2004, he called for a national reconciliation, the establishment of a climate of peace and security for all and an emergency plan to fight hunger, poverty and disease. In December 2005, there were several days of bloody student protests during the state visit of the President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández, for the treatment of Haitian refugees in the neighboring state.

According to then actually carried out in February 2006 presidential election, he handed the presidency on 14 May 2006 to the election winner, former President Rene Preval.