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Leslie Voltaire
Leslie Voltaire (born 11 July 1949) is a Haitian politician and architect serving as the president of the Transitional Presidential Council since October 2024. He previously served in the administrations of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and René Préval and was a candidate for president in the 2010 election. Early life and educationVoltaire was born on 11 July 1949 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.[1] He is a fluent speaker of English, French, Spanish and Haitian Creole.[2] He attended Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial in Port-au-Prince and later studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he received a degree in architecture, and Cornell University in the United States, where he earned a master's degree in urban and regional planning.[1] At Cornell, he was a Fulbright scholar.[3] CareerVoltaire became an architect and urban planner, gaining over 40 years of experience.[3] He helped develop several large-scale projects including a master plan for a low cost housing complex that was built in Port-au-Prince and was a consultant in the construction of a football academy.[1] For 15 years, he served as the professor of architecture at the State University of Haiti.[1] Voltaire was a friend of Haitian president Jean-Claude Duvalier.[4] Voltaire, who became a member of the political party Fanmi Lavalas, entered politics in 1990 when he was appointed a state councilor, and one year later was named by president Jean-Bertrand Aristide as the Minister of National Education and Minister of Sports.[3] He became the chief of staff to Aristide in 1995, then remained in the government in the administration of René Préval, being appointed infrastructure advisor in 1996.[3] In 2001, he became the Minister of Haitians Living Abroad.[3] He authored the Voltaire law, which improved economic rights for Haitian diaspora.[1] Voltaire was a Special Envoy to the United Nations (UN) in 2009, working with former U.S. president Bill Clinton.[3] In 2010, Voltaire was a leading figure in helping rebuild Haiti following a major earthquake.[5][6] He ran for president in the 2010–11 Haitian general election under the party Ansanm Nou Fò, receiving 16,199 votes, 1.59% of the electorate, although there were allegations of voter fraud.[7][8] Afterwards, he remained an advisor to the Lavalas party and later became a member of the executive board of the Montana Accord.[9] In 2024, Voltaire was appointed to the Transitional Presidential Council, the body temporarily acting as the head of state of Haiti, as one of seven members, taking office on 25 April 2024.[8] As part of a rotating leadership of the body, Voltaire succeeded Edgard Leblanc Fils on 7 October 2024, with a term that set to expire on 7 March 2025.[10][11] He took over the presidency at a time when several members of the council were the subjects of corruption allegations, and the outgoing leader, Leblanc Fils, refused to sign the decree that ratified Voltaire as the president.[12] Voltaire is married and has three children.[1] References
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