Haiti

Chamber of Deputies Senate

Chamber of Deputies

Political system: Presidential system
Structure of parliament: Bicameral
IPU membership: Yes

Notes: Non-participating Member (all rights suspended)

Election results

Data on parliamentary elections, including the background, candidates, voter turnout, results and the formation of the new legislature. By default the latest election results are displayed. Select a date to view results from previous elections.

Results

About the election: 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.
Percentage of seats won by largest party or coalition: 7.6%

Parties or coalitions winning seats

Parties or coalitions winning seats
Political group	Total	1st round	2nd round
Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK)	9	4	22
Truth (Vérité)	3	1	12
Konvansyon Inite Demokratik (KID)	7	0	7
Bouclier	2	1	0
Ayiti an aksyon (AAA)	6	2	4
Consortium	1	0	1
Fanmi Lavalas	6	0	6
Pou nou tout (PONT)	1	0	1
Patriotic Unity Party (Inite Patriyotik)	4	1	3
Pitit Dessalines	1	0	1
People's Struggle Party (OPL)	7	0	7
Alternative League for the Progress and Emancipation of Haiti (LAPEH)	3	0	3
Haitian Social-Democratic Fusion Party (Fusion)	3	0	3
Mosano	2	0	2
Renmen Ayiti	2	0	3
Kontrapelela (Kontra pèp la)	1	0	1
KP	1	0	1
Palmis	1	0	1
Socialist Action Movement (MAS)	1	0	1
Haitian National Movement (MONHA)	1	0	2
Federalist Party (PF)	1	0	1

Members elected, by sex

Number of men elected: 115
Number of women elected: 3

Notes:
No women were elected in the 2015 elections. 92 of the 119 members were sworn in in January 2016.

Delayed elections to the remaining seats were held in parallel with the regular renewal of the Senate in 2016.

As at 22 March 2017, there were three women out of 118 members. There are no women candidates for the remaining seat. The final number of women will thus remain at three.
Percentage of women elected: 2.5%
Women Directly Elected: 3
Sources: Chamber of Deputies (08.01.2016, 20.01.2017, 30.01.2017, 22.03.2017)

Conseil Electoral Provisoire

International Foundation for Electoral Systems

BBC Monitoring

Alter presse

Haiti Libre

Le Nouvelliste

New legislature

Total number of men after the election: 115
Total number of women after the election: 3
Percentage of women after the election: 2.5%
First-term parliamentarians: No information available
Percentage of first-term parliamentarians: No information available
Date of the first session: 11 Jan 2016

First Speaker of the new legislature

Personal details for the first Speaker of the new legislature: Cholzer Chancy (Male)
Political party: Ayiti an aksyon (AAA)
Date of election: 11 Jan 2016

Haiti

Chamber of Deputies

Election results

Background

Candidates

Voter turnout