Leslie Voltaire

Leslie Voltaire (born 11 July 1949) is a Haitian politician and architect who served as the 2nd chairman of the Transitional Presidential Council from October 2024 to March 2025. 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 education Voltaire was born on 11 July 1949 in Port-au-Prince. He is a fluent speaker of English, French, Spanish and Haitian Creole. 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.

Career Voltaire became an architect and urban planner, gaining over 40 years of experience. 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. 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. Afterwards, he remained an advisor to the Lavalas party and later became a member of the executive board of the Montana Accord.

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. He took over the presidency at a time when several members of the council were the subjects of corruption allegations, and the outgoing leader, Edgard Leblanc Fils, refused to sign the decree that ratified Voltaire as the president.

Voltaire is married and has three children.