After numerous postponements, the first elections since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in February 2004 were held on 7 February 2006, at the same time as the presidential elections, for all seats in both chambers of the enlarged National Assembly. The former National Assembly had stopped functioning in January 2004 when the terms of all deputies and two-thirds of sitting senators expired. Since March 2004, the country had been headed by an interim government led by President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.
In the last elections, which were held in 2000, the Lavalas Family Party won 72 of the 82 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and all seats in the Senate. The party was formed in 1996 by former President Aristide when he broke with the People's Struggle Party (OPL). The Organization of American States (OAS) withdrew its observers in the second round of voting in 2000, deeming that the results of the first round had been rigged in favour of the Lavalas Family Party.
More than 50 political parties were registered for the parliamentary elections in 2006. The leading party was Mr. René Préval's Front for Hope (Lespwa), which was created by former members of the Lavalas Family Party. Mr. Préval, a former President (1996-2001) and long-time ally of Mr. Aristide, was a leading candidate in the presidential elections. He pledged to re-establish security and create jobs. The Lavalas Family Party was said to be a possible ally for Lespwa, whose main rivals were the Haitian Social-Democratic Fusion Party of Mr. Serge Gilles, the Democratic Alliance Party (Alyans) of former mayor of Port-au-Prince Mr. Evans Paul, and Mr. Paul Deniss OPL. All three had reportedly supported the removal of President Aristide from power in 2004.
Violence has been rife in this country of 8.5 million habitants, more than half of whom live on less than one dollar per day. Most political parties pledged to deal with security problems and promised to develop the country. The international community saw the elections as a first step towards the restoration of democracy. The then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said they were an opportunity to move towards a future of peace and stability.
The elections were held in the presence of over 9,000 United Nations personnel, including some 7,000 troops and 1,700 police officers. They were monitored by more than 200 international observers.
In the first round, held on 7 February 2006, about 60 per cent of roughly 3.5 million registered voters turned out for the polls. Voting was hampered by late poll openings, delays in distributing ballots and a shortage of election workers. Four people were reportedly killed on polling day in crowd crushes. Only two candidates for the Chamber of Deputies obtained the majority needed to win a seat.
In the presidential elections, Mr. Préval came in first with 48.8 per cent, short of the 50 per cent needed to be declared winner at the first round. After the vote, he claimed that the elections had been marred by massive fraud, and insisted that some 85,000 blank votes should be excluded from the official count. The discovery of voting bags and marked ballots in a garbage dump triggered a series of street protests by Mr. Préval's supporters. The United Nations Mission in Haiti spoke of an "apparent grave breach of the electoral process". Following these protests, the interim government and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) agreed to discard the blank votes, giving Mr. Préval 51.15 per cent of the votes, enough to be elected as the country's new president at the first round.
Run-offs for the parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for 19 March, were held on 21 April. Only 28.31 per cent of registered voters turned out.
Lespwa won the largest number of seats in both chambers, but failed to win an absolute majority.
After the election, two major parliamentary blocs were formed in the Chamber of Deputies: one comprised the Haitian Social-Democratic Fusion Party, Alyans and the OPL; the other, the Group of 30, consisted of Lespwa, the Lavalas Family Party and a number of small parties. A further 10 deputies from minority parties formed another loose parliamentary bloc.
At the first meeting of the new Parliament, held on 9 May 2006, 27 of 30 senators and 82 of 99 deputies were sworn in. On 10 May 2006, the lower house elected Mr. Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques of Lespwa as Speaker. The following day, the Senate elected Mr. Joseph Lambert of the same party as its Speaker.
On 14 May 2006, Mr. René Préval was sworn in as the country's new President, officially ending Haiti's two-year political transition.
The election of six additional deputies was subsequently confirmed, leaving eleven seats in the Chamber of Deputies and three seats in the Senate vacant. Elections for these seats were finally held on 3 December 2006, at the same time as local elections. Lespwa remained the largest party in both chambers. |
A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page