Michel
Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly is the new president of Haiti.
The 50-year-old popular singer was officially declared the country’s next president by election officials late Wednesday.
Mr. Martelly is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 14.
A spokesman for Haiti’s electoral commission, Pierre Thibault, said Mr. Martelly won the presidency with 67% of the vote, defeating rival candidate Mirlande Manigat.
The announcement ends a long, drawn-out election that began on November 28 which was marred by fraud and other irregularities, several days of rioting and numerous delays.
Preliminary results were released on April 6.
Since then, Mr. Martelly has spoken about the need for reconciliation in the bitterly divided nation.
On the campaign trail, he called for free education for all children, a renovation of the agricultural sector, and the restoration of the disbanded army.
As Haiti’s newly elected president, Mr. Martelly will now be tasked with leading multi-billion dollar reconstruction efforts after the magnitude-7 earthquake last year, housing hundreds of thousands of displaced quake survivors, and stemming a deadly cholera epidemic.
Election officials also released final results for legislative elections held at the same time, showing that the political party of outgoing President Rene Preval has a majority in the Senate.
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