Haiti’s Senate names Joseph Lambert as interim President

The Senate of Haiti senate on Friday nominated its head Joseph Lambert to the post of the interim president of the country after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, media reports said.

Haiti’s Senate currently comprises just a third of its usual 30 senators.

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The country is currently working under acting interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph. Elections Minister Mathias Pierre said he would keep that role until presidential and legislative elections are held on September 26, Reuters reported.

The move plunges Haiti deeper into a political crisis with its constitution unclear as to who should take over the reins of power in this kind of situation and rival political factions in disagreement.

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Haiti has also asked Washington and the UN to send troops to help it secure its ports, airport and other strategic sites after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, a government minister said Friday. The United States has already said it will send FBI and other agents to Port-au-Prince, two days after Moise was brutally killed by gunmen in his home, opening up a power vacuum in the impoverished and crisis-hit Caribbean nation.

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Police had said that a 28-member hit squad of Colombians and Americans had carried out the attack, but that they were still seeking its masterminds.

Colombia on Friday confirmed that 17 Colombian ex-soldiers were thought to have been involved. President Ivan Duque has told Haitian officials Bogota will collaborate in the investigation.