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Known as Gouvernement collégial or Collège, this leaderless Conseil Exécutif de Gouvernement was made up of representatives of the different political parties vying for presidency of the country. They were: Stuart Cambronne, Seymour Lamothe, Raoul Daguilh, George Bretous, Wéber Michaud, Emmanuel Bruny, Ernest Danache, Léonce Bernard, Max Bolté, Grégoire Eugène, Antoine Pierre-Paul, Vilfort Beauvoir, and Théodore Nicoleau. Each member was asked to serve as chairperson on a rotating basis every time the group met in executive session.

Powerful presidential candidates like Louis Déjoie, François Duvalier, and Daniel Fignolé agreed on the creation of that collegial provisional government whose only task would be the organization of elections. Conflicts with the army, however, as well as the inability of the representatives of the presidential candidates to work together, and the violent reactions of groups in many parts of the country, never gave that weak formula a chance. On June 25, 1957, two rival factions of the army clashed, resulting in the deaths of a few officers and soldiers. Angry mobs were roaming the streets of the capital, destroying property and looting stores. General Léon Cantave and other prominent leaders meeting at the Dessalines Barracks called upon Daniel Fignolé, a powerful presidential candidate with great influence on the Port-au-Prince masses, to assume power as provisional president on that very day.