Haiti parliament convenes but doesn’t discuss looming crisis

By Associated Press

Published: 18:10 EST, 4 February 2016 | Updated: 18:10 EST, 4 February 2016

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s new parliament has convened in its first session but there was no public debate about a looming constitutional crisis with the weekend departure of the president.

Twenty-two senators and 92 deputies were present Thursday to open the troubled country’s National Assembly.

The matter of the presidential vacuum was listed on their agenda but they closed the brief session without formally discussing it. President Michel Martelly is constitutionally required to leave office Sunday.

A supporter of presidential candidate Jovenel Moise of the PHTK political party, waves a Haitian national flag, during a march to demand elections be reinsta...

A supporter of presidential candidate Jovenel Moise of the PHTK political party, waves a Haitian national flag, during a march to demand elections be reinstated, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. Haiti had been scheduled to hold a presidential and legislative runoff Jan. 24. But the now-splintered provisional electoral council canceled it for a second time amid the protests and suspicion that the first round was marred by widespread fraud favoring President Michel Martelly’s chosen candidate, Moise. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Sen. Francois Anick Joseph said: “We hope we can find a solution by Sunday.”

The two legislative leaders departed without taking questions.

A presidential runoff has been indefinitely postponed amid violent protests and suspicions of electoral fraud.

Officials are focused on finding an interim leader to head a caretaker government until voters can elect their next leader.

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