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Haitian Prime Minister Resigns After Protests


FILE - Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, speaks during a session called "Expanding Cross-Sector Coordination in Haiti" at the Clinton Global Initiative 2013 (CGI) in New York, Sept. 25, 2013.
FILE - Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, speaks during a session called "Expanding Cross-Sector Coordination in Haiti" at the Clinton Global Initiative 2013 (CGI) in New York, Sept. 25, 2013.

Haiti's prime minister has resigned after violent anti-government protests.

In a speech early Sunday, Laurent Lamothe said he was leaving "with a sense of accomplishment.''

Protesters had called for President Michel Martelly and Lamothe both to resign.

Martelly was to have called polls in 2011, but they were postponed in a stalemate over electoral law.

Opposition politicians accuse President Martelly of wanting to rule by decree and that legislation that would authorize the vote unfairly favors the government.

Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, has endured a growing number of violent demonstrations in recent weeks. One man was killed in the protests Saturday.

An advisory commission set up by the president to break the stalemate recommended last week that Lamothe resign.

The commission also recommended disbanding Haiti's electoral council and freeing political prisoners.

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