Profile: New Haitian president Michel Martelly

Michel Martelly was sworn in as Haiti's new president on Saturday in front of the collapsed National Palace.

Martelly, better known as "Sweet Mickey," defeated his closest rival, former first lady Mirlande Maniga, in a landslide victory with 67.5 percent of the vote, official results showed.

Born on Feb. 12, 1961, Martelly represents to many Haitians the dream of a better future, as he himself has worked his way up the social ladder.

After graduating from high school, Martelly joined the Haitian Military Academy and later moved to the United States, where he ended up in working in a grocery store. One year later, he returned to Haiti and embarked on what turned out to be a very successful music career.

Martelly is considered a pioneer in creating a unique music rhythm known as Compas or Kompa and started to gain popularity with his first single "Ooo La La" released in 1988.

In January 2011, he came in second during the first round of presidential elections, garnering 22.2 percent of the vote.

Martelly has run his campaign on the promises of addressing poverty and improving the rule of law to attract more foreign investments.

He also vowed to speed up post-earthquake reconstruction in the country, which is still reeling from devastation caused by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in January 2010 and a cholera epidemic later in the year.

He also promoted a gradual withdrawal of the U.N. peace and stabilization mission as from 2012, hoping to set up more specialized units within the Haitian security forces.

Posted in: Profile: New Haitian president Michel Martelly