Jovenel Moise was sworn in Tuesday as Haitis 58th president, ending a protracted electoral crisis that had created a vacuum of power in the impoverished, disaster-prone Caribbean nation.

Moise, a 48-year-old banana exporter who has never held political office, took the oath at a ceremony at the National Assembly.

He was former president Michel Martelly hand-picked choice to lead the poorest country in the Americas, one still struggling to recover from devastating natural disasters.