| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Assemblée nationale / National Assembly |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Sénat / Senate |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Chambre des Députés / Chamber of Deputies
|
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) (from/to) | 9 August 2015
25 October 2015 |
| Purpose of elections |
No party won a majority in either chamber of the bicameral parliament in these delayed elections. The Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK, meaning "bald headed") supporting President Michel Martelly, and its allies, took 41 seats (see note 1) in the 119-member Chamber of Deputies (see note 2). The principal opposition parties won 33 seats (see note 3). Due to successive delays in holding the elections, two-thirds of the 30-member Senate (instead of one third) was renewed in 2015. No party won more than three seats, returning a fragmented Senate.
The first round of parliamentary elections, held on 9 August, recorded a turnout of just 17.8 percent nationwide. After the first round, the election commission invalidated elections in 22 constituencies where voting centres were closed due to violence. In September, the Truth (Vérité) party, which had sought in vain to register Mr. Jacky Lumarque as its presidential candidate, announced a boycott of the second round of parliamentary elections, citing violence in the first round.
The second round of parliamentary elections took place on 25 October in parallel with the first round of the presidential elections. On 24 November, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced that Mr. Jovenel Moise (PHTK) and Mr. Jude Celestin of the Alternative League for the Progress and the Emancipation of Haiti (LAPEH) would advance to the second round scheduled to be held on 27 December. The CEP's announcement triggered violent protests by supporters of the third-placed former senator Jean-Charles Moise of the Pitit Dessalines faction, who accused the government of rigging the elections in favour of the PHTK candidate.
Haiti has not had a functioning parliament since 12 January 2015. As elections could not be organized on time, the mandate of all 99 members in the outgoing Chamber of Deputies and the 10 senators elected in 2009 expired on 11 January 2015 (see note 4). This left only 10 sitting senators, not enough to meet the quorum of 16 that is required for the Senate to take decisions. President Martelly subsequently ruled the country by decree, appointing a new government on 16 January. A new Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) was installed on 23 January and began preparatory work for the 2015 elections. Newly elected members were sworn in on 11 January 2016, thereby re-establishing a functioning Parliament.
Note 1:
Three parties allied to the PHTK are Ayiti an aksyon (AAA), led by Mr. Youri Latortue, advisor to the President; Konvansyon Inite Demokratik (KID), led by Prime Minister Evans Paul; and Bouclier led by Mr. Steeve Khawly.
Note 2:
The statutory number of members of the Chamber of Deputies has increased from 99 to 119 in accordance with the electoral law, gazetted on 2 March 2015, which initially provided for 118 single-member constituencies. On 13 March, the President issued a decree, splitting the constituency of Cerca La Source in two separate ones: Cerca La Source and Thomassique. The number of constituencies (and consequently the number of members in the Chamber of Deputies) is therefore 119.
Note 3:
They include three parties which supported Mr. Jude Célestin of the Alternative League for the Progress and Emancipation of Haiti (LAPEH) in the presidential elections: LAPEH, Truth (Vérité) and the Patriotic Unity Party (Inite Patriyotik); as well as People's Struggle Party (OPL) and Fanmi Lavalas.
Note 4:
One-third of the 30-member Senate is renewed every two years. The term of 10 senators elected in 2006 expired in May 2012. In accordance with Article 231 of the 2008 electoral law, which was applied to the 2009 elections to the Senate, 10 senators elected in 2009 were due to serve until January 2014 . In December 2013, the electoral law was amended to allow those senators to remain in office until January 2015.
In March 2014, President Michel Martelly, Cardinal Chibly Langlois, Speaker Jacques Stevenson Thimoléon and Senate President Simon Dieuseul Desras signed the El Rancho Accord in view of holding new elections. In April, the outgoing Chamber of Deputies passed the amendments to the electoral law required by the El Rancho Accord. In June, President Martelly issued a decree to hold elections on 26 October 2014 to fill two thirds of the 30-member Senate (20) and all seats in the expanded 112-member Chamber of Deputies. However, some sitting senators opposed the amendments to the electoral law. In absence of agreement, elections scheduled for October were postponed indefinitely.
In December 2014, the President, the presidency of both chambers of Parliament and the head of Judiciary signed a tri-party accord. It would have extended the mandate of the members of Chamber of Deputies to 24 April 2015 and that of senators elected in 2009 (whose term was to expire in 2015) to 9 September 2015, on the condition that the electoral law was amended by 12 January 2015. After the outgoing Parliament failed to pass the amendments to the electoral law, the term of all 99 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 10 more senators expired. |
Date of previous elections: 28 November 2010 & 20 March 2011
Date of dissolution of the outgoing legislature: N/A
Timing of election: Delayed elections
Expected date of next elections: August 2017
Number of seats at stake: 20 (partial renewal)
Number of candidates: 232 (209 men, 23 women)
Percentage of women candidates: 9.9%
Number of parties contesting the election: Not available.
Date of the first session of the new parliament: 11 January 2016
Name of the new Speaker: Mr. Jocelerme Privert (Inité) |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 9 August 2015 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
5'871'450
1'046'516 (17.82%)
|
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
1st round |
2nd round |
Run-off Nov. 2016 |
|
| Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK) |
5
|
0 |
2 |
3 |
|
| Konvansyon Inite Demokratik (KID) |
3
|
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
| Truth (Vérité) |
3
|
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
| Bouclier |
1
|
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
| Fanmi Lavalas |
1
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Konbit Nasyonal (KONA) |
1
|
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
| Patriotic Unity Party (Inite Patriyotik) |
1
|
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
| People's Struggle Party (OPL) |
1
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Pitit Dessalines |
1
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Dessalines League (LIDE) |
1
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Ayiti an aksyon (AAA) |
1
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Pou nou tout (PONT) |
1
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
14
0
0.00%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
|
|
| Comments |
Sources:
National Assembly (08.01.2016, 17.02.2016, 04.08.2016, 11.01.2017)
https://principal.cephaiti.ht/
http://www.ifes.org
BBC Monitoring
http://www.alterpresse.org
http://www.haitilibre.com
http://lenouvelliste.com
Note:
Due to successive delays to previous elections, the 2015 elections were held for two thirds (instead of one third) of the 30-member Senate. Each elector exceptionally voted for two senators.
In constituencies where no candidates were elected in the first round, the four candidates with the highest number of votes advanced to the second round. In constituencies where one candidate was elected in the first round, the two other candidates with the next-highest number of votes advanced to the second round.
Note on the vacant seats:
- Fourteen of the 20 senate seats at stake in 2015 were filled in two rounds of elections held on 9 August and 25 October 2015.
- The newly elected senators joined ten sitting senators on 11 January 2016 and elected Mr. Jocelerme Privert as the new President of the Senate.
- Run-off elections for the six remaining seats have been postponed on several occasions. They were most recently due to be held in parallel with the run-off presidential polls on 27 December 2015. The new President of the Republic had not been elected before outgoing President Michel Martelly left office on 7 February 2016.
- On 14 February, the National Assembly (a joint session of both chambers of parliament) elected Senate President Privert as interim President. He subsequently resigned as a senator in order to assume the new post.
- As at 15 February 2016, there were seven vacant seats: six undecided seats from the 2015 elections and one seat vacated by the former President of the Senate.
- On 28 March, Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles and his Cabinet were sworn in. The Cabinet included Senator François Anick Joseph as Minister of the Interior. He subsequently resigned as a senator. The number of sitting senators thus decreased from 23 to 22.
- The run-off parliamentary elections for the six remaining seats were expected to be held on 9 October 2016, in parallel with the first round of elections for a one-third renewal of the Senate (10 seats). They were postponed to 20 November 2016 due to a hurricane. “Run-off Nov. 2016” in the table above refers to those elections.
- The six new senators, including one woman, were sworn in to the Senate on 10 January 2017. The Senate comprised 20 members including one woman, pending the results of the one-third renewal of the Senate held in November 2016 (1st round) and January 2017 (second round).
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