PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Prime Minister designate Jean-Max Bellerive has cleared the first hurdle towards his appointment as a replacement for Michele Pierre-Louise, after the Senate voted overwhelming on Friday to support his nomination.

By a vote of 22-0, the legislators said that the Planning and External Cooperation Minister met the constitutional requirements to be prime minister.

He must now get approval from the Lower House, before both houses approve his plan of governance.

Bellerive would be Haiti’s sixth prime minister since 2004 if he is nominated by the law makers..

Legislators last week voted to remove Pierre-Louis as prime minister on the grounds that she failed to improve the economy of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.

On Friday, the United States said that while Haiti is no stranger to volatile politics, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country “is seeing more of it with the Haitian Senate’s recent no-confidence vote removing … Pierre-Louis”.

“The United States respects the vote and Haiti’s regard for the democratic process. The nation’s leaders should now act quickly to put a new government in place to avoid instability. Haiti’s future is in its own hands,” Washington said.