Haiti has a new PM. Following the vote of the Senate previously, at the end of last week the Chamber of Deputies approved the nomination of Laurent Lamothe.

According to Radio Kiskeya, the vote was 62 in favour, 3 against and 2 abstentions. There are 100 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. There is a nice report on the vote here.

The nomination is all the more interesting because PM Lamothe is a very close personal and political friend of President Martelly, who does not have a strong organised party basis. Therefore, what we are seeing is the extent of the de facto presidential majority in Haiti. In other words, the general degree of support that the president can command over and above party support.

It is clear that the president enjoys more support in the Chamber of Deputies than in the Senate.

The next step is for PM Lamothe to have his declaration of general policy approved by the two chambers. Normally, the PM investiture vote is the key stage and he has just passed this step. So, the two chambers should approve the declaration. However, there is always the chance that they might not. Therefore, even though Laurent Lamothe is PM, he is not yet sure of being the head of government, if you see what I mean.

In other words, the saga of appointing the PM/government is not yet over. More to follow.