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Haiti News Media > Haiti News > Rene Gracia Preval Rene Gracia Preval, Haitian President  Rene Gracia Preval (b. Marmelade, March 17, 1943-)
Rene Gracia Preval, the first prime minister in the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was an agronomist who had studied in Belgium. He was elected, in January 1996 to succeed Aristide. Described as the latter’s twin brother, he was trusted by the majority because of his friendship and loyalty to his predecessor. Having very little political experience, but scrupulously honest, he was forced to walk a tightrope due to the lack of resources needed to solve the major problems of the nation. Constantly prodded by Aristide, he was vied by the people as a “seat warmer for the presidential armchair” until his associate could constitutionally run again. A member of the coalition of parties that had won the most seats in parliament, Rosny Smart, was chosen by President Preval to become prime minister. Rony Smart was an agronomist trained in Mexico and the Director of the Center for Social Research and Popular Education, a consulting firm.
In spite of the meager resources of the state a number of schools were built under Prevals administration, the president’s project to privatize the state companies and invest in agriculture never materialized.
Former President Aristide was regarded by many as the power behind the throne. On November 3, 1996, he launched his new political party Fanmi Lavalas.
Controversial elections were held on April 6, 1997 and denounced by many political parties as being rigged. President Preval, on April 17, declared publicly that he lacked the competency to annul them. In his message to the people on January 2, 1998, he reiterated his decision not o invalidate the contested elections.
On June 9, 1997, Smart resigned, capitulating to months of strikes and violent protests demanding his removal. He accused forces loyal to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of undermining him. He was criticized by Aristide, for economic and social policies that favored reduction in government spending and privatization of the state-owned enterprises.
Finding a replacement for Prime Minister Rosny Smart did not prove to be easy. On June 11, 1998, Professor Jacques Edouard Alexis was designated for the post, but he could not secure the constitutional agreement form the Senate. The country remained without a prime minister for the remainder of President Rene Preval's term.
On February 7, 1998, the Haitian Embassy in Havana, Cuba, was reopened after 37 years. The Dominican President Leonel Fernandez briefly visited Haiti and was welcomed by President Preval on June 18, 1998.
The beginning of 1999 saw a widening gap between parliament and the president. On January 15, 199, President Rene Preval decided to end the mandate of the deputies and senators. New elections for their replacement were decreed but they had to be postponed twice before being held on November 26, 200. As anticipated, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected to a second five-year term. He was sworn in on February 7, 2001.
_____________________________________________________________ Second presidency
Preval ran again as the Lespwa candidate in the Haitian presidential election of 2006. The election took place after nearly two years of international peacekeeping, which some described as an unelected dictatorship. During this time, human rights groups accused the gov't as being responsible for the deaths of thousands of Haitians in poor slums. Partial election results, released on February 9, indicated that he had won with about sixty percent of the vote, but as further results were released, his share of the vote slipped to 48.7% thus making a run-off necessary. Several days of popular demonstrations in favour of Preval followed in Port-au-Prince and other cities in Haiti. On February 14, Preval claimed that there had been fraud among the vote counts, and demanded that he be declared the winner outright of the first round. Protesters paralyzed the capital with burning barricades and stormed a luxury hotel to demand results from Haiti's nearly week-old election as ex-President Rene Preval fell further below the 50 per cent needed to win the presidency. On February 16, 2006, Preval was declared the winner of the Presidential Election by the Provisional Electoral Council with 51.15 percent of the vote, after the exclusion of "blank" ballots from the count. Upon his taking office he immediately signed an oil deal with Venezuela and traveled to the United States, Cuba, and France.
Preval draws much of his support from Haiti's poorest people; he is especially widely supported in the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. However, many of the poor demand that the former President Aristide be allowed to return and that civil enterprise workers fired by the Latortue government be reinstated. This has caused increasing tension in the poor slums of Port-au-Prince. Preval has promised to build a massive road system which would boost trade and transportation around the country.
Preval was sworn in on May 14, following Haiti's legislative run-off vote in April.
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