Haitian prime minister nominee Jacques Edouard Alexis arrives at the Haitian senate 6 June 2006 in Port- au-Prince. AFP PHOTO/Thony BELIZAIRE

Alexis, named prime minister by President Rene Preval last month, went before the Senate to outline his plan for governing as part of the formal process of installing a new government, more than two years after former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted by a bloody rebellion.

He named a cabinet that included members of at least five rival political parties and seven people who served as ministers during Preval's first presidency, from 1996 to 2001.

The Senate debated Alexis' program into the night but was expected to approve both the plan and the ministers. Rejection would be the equivalent of a no-confidence vote and Preval would have to choose a new prime minister.

Preval's election in February was an important step in Haiti's return to democracy as the Caribbean nation of 8.5 million people -- the poorest in the Americas -- struggles to shake off decades of dictatorship, military rule and political upheaval.

Human rights groups in Haiti and abroad have accused the US-backed interim government appointed after Aristide's ouster in February 2004 of jailing hundreds of the former president's supporters without cause.

Alexis told senators the rights of many prisoners have been denied, addressing the issue uppermost in the minds of Aristide supporters who were instrumental in electing Preval.

"There are too many people in jail now for peccadilloes. We are going to act," Alexis said.

"We are going to work immediately with the judicial system on the cases of people who have been arrested and who were jailed for political reasons," he said, while promising to respect the independence of the judiciary.

Outside Parliament, hundreds of demonstrators demanded Aristide be returned to Haiti from his South African exile and called for the release of political prisoners.

"We want to know if Preval and Alexis' government want to condone the abuses committed by the interim government," demonstrator Johnny Marsan said. "We want to know why the political prisoners are still in jail."

As a result of a deal reached between Preval and Alexis and their political rivals in parliament, five leading opposition parties are represented among the 18 ministers named by Alexis. They include the parties of prominent politicians Paul Denis, Evans Paul, Serge Gilles and Chavannes Jeune, who all ran against Preval in the presidential campaign.

Alexis named Daniel Dorsainvil, a close adviser to Preval and former official with USAID in Haiti, as finance minister.

Rene Magloire, who served as justice minister during Preval's first term, was returned to that post and Renald Clerisme, a former member of Haiti's delegation to the World Trade Organization, was named minister of foreign affairs.

Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, who was education minister in Preval's first term, was named interior minister.