PORT-AU-PRINCE — Lawmakers in Haiti's lower house on Friday unanimously approved the nomination of Garry Conille, an advisor to former US president Bill Clinton, to be the country's prime minister.
The Senate must still approve the nomination.
Conille, a 45-year-old physician by training, was the third candidate put forward by President Michel Martelly for the key post, in a bid to end a three-month long impasse over the makeup of his fledgling government.
Conille has been serving as chief of staff to Clinton, who as the UN special envoy for Haiti is a key player in how the impoverished country will spend millions of dollars donated by the world community for reconstruction.
He was educated in Haiti and received graduate training in health administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Fulbright scholar.
Conille has also worked as the United Nations Development Program's resident representative for Niger.
Martelly, a popular former singer elected by a wide margin, was sworn in as president of Haiti on May 14 but four months later, he has not yet succeeded in putting his government in place.
The opposition-led parliament said no to his previous two picks for the prime minister post -- businessman Daniel-Gerard Rouzier and legal scholar Bernard Gousse.
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