2015–16 Haitian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Haiti on 9 August 2015, with a second round initially planned for 25 October.[1][2] Two-thirds of the Senate and all members of the Chamber of Deputies were up for election. International observers reported that early rounds of voting have experienced significant fraud, including people voting more than once due to failure of indelible ink, vote buying due to lack of secrecy, poor training of election workers, poor tracking of political parties, and other problems.[3] This has resulted in the nullification of some results and rescheduling of re-runs. The second round of the parliamentary elections that had been scheduled for October 2015 was postponed to October 2016, along with the first round for a third of the Senate and the first round of a new presidential election.[4]
 | ||
| ||
|
| ||
 |
|---|
|
Haiti portal |
The United States withdrew funding for the October 2016 round, though it financially supported previous rounds and observers from the Organization of American States.[5] The second round was scheduled for 9 October 2016 but was postponed to 20 November due to Hurricane Matthew. It was held together with local elections and the first round of the presidential election.[1][2]
Electoral system
Members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system; a second round being held if no candidate in a constituency wins a majority of the vote in the first round.[6] In March 2015 an electoral decree increased the number of members in the new Chamber of Deputies from 99 to 118, with the Senate retaining the 30 members.[7] On 13 March, President Martelly issued a decree that split the Cerca La Source in two constituencies, and therefore increasing the number of deputies to 119.[8]
One-third of the 30-member Senate is elected every two years, also using the two-round system.[9] However, the previous Senate elections, which had been scheduled for May 2012, were not held, meaning two-thirds of the seats were up for elections in 2015.[10]
The Haitian election calendar was as follows:
| Date | Election |
|---|---|
| 9 August 2015 | First round of parliamentary election (cancelled in 22 constituencies) First round of Senate two-thirds election |
| 25 October 2015 | Second round of parliamentary election (constituencies that hadn't cancelled the 9 August election) First round of parliamentary election (22 constituencies that cancelled the 9 August election) Second round of Senate two-thirds election |
| 24 April 2016 (cancelled)[11] | Second round of presidential election Second round of parliamentary election (22 constituencies that cancelled the 9 August election and 2 that will have to repeat the October second round) First round of Senate one-third election[12][13] |
| 9 October 2016 (postponed due to Hurricane Matthew)[14] | |
| 20 November 2016[15] |
Campaign
A total of 2,037 candidates registered to contest the elections, representing 98 different political parties. A total of 522 candidates were disqualified in a first instance, leaving 186 candidates for the Senate and 1,329 for the Chamber of Deputies. The Provisional Electoral Council updated the list of candidates on 26 June, with the addition of 47 candidates for the Senate and 294 for the Chamber of Deputies that had been previously rejected, making a grand total of 233 candidates for senator and 1,624 for deputy.[16][17]
The number of candidates among the principal parties are shown here:
| Party | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Senators | Deputies | Total | |
| Truth (Vérité) | 15 | 100 | 115 |
| Haitian Tèt Kale Party (Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale) | 11 | 99 | 110 |
| Fanmi Lavalas | 16 | 83 | 99 |
| Platfom Pitit Desalin | 14 | 85 | 99 |
| Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats | 11 | 85 | 96 |
| Renmen Ayiti | 15 | 79 | 94 |
| Struggling People's Organization | 10 | 83 | 93 |
| Convention for Democratic Unity | 12 | 73 | 85 |
| Pont | 3 | 52 | 55 |
| Patriotic Unity (Inite Patriyotik) | 8 | 39 | 47 |
| Respect (Respé) | 6 | 36 | 42 |
| Haiti in Action | 4 | 36 | 40 |
| PPG18 | 2 | 31 | 33 |
| Patriotic Movement of the Democratic Opposition (MOPOD) | 5 | 23 | 28 |
| Peasant Platform Platfòm Peyizan | 2 | 23 | 25 |
| Christian Movement for a New Haiti | 3 | 19 | 22 |
| Other parties | 96 | 677 | 774 |
| Total | 233 | 1,623 | 1,857 |
| Sources: | |||
On September 8, 2015, candidates of the Verité party withdrew from the elections.[18]
Results
2015 results
According to the preliminary results given by the Electoral Committee, there were 1,046,516 valid votes for an electorate of 5,871,450, which represents a 17.82% turnout.[19] The elections were cancelled in 22 constituencies, and therefore there were no results for those districts.[20]
On September 28 the Electoral Committee released definitive results, and declared elected one senator from AAA (Haiti in Action) and one from LIDE (Ligue Dessalines). For the deputies' election, 8 deputies were elected: 4 candidates from PHTK (Haitian Tèt Kale Party), 2 from AAA (Haiti in Action), 1 from VERITE (Truth) and 1 from INITE PATRIYOTIK (Patriotic Unity).[21] The second round of the legislative election took place on October 25, along with the first round of the presidential election and the first round of the legislative election on the constituencies where the August election were cancelled.[22]
The results of October 25 second round for the Senate says that were elected 3 candidates from KID, 3 from Verité, 2 from PHTK, and Fanmi Lavalas, PONT, OPL and Pettit Dessalines each had one.[23] 82 deputies were elected in the second round.[24] Eight more had already won in the first round on 9 August. The second round at the districts where the election was repeated should take place on 27 December, but on 21 December the Electoral Committee announced that the elections were postponed indefinitely.[25]
2016 results
According to Reuters, one of the elected Senators, Guy Philippe, participated in the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and is wanted by the DEA for "conspiracy to import cocaine and launder monetary instruments". He campaigned with President-Elect Jovenel Moïse.[26]
The total of deputies and senators elected until December 2016 is stated below. The table lists in separate columns the number of deputies elected in the second rounds made in 2015 and 2016, because some of the run-offs were delayed along with the presidential run-off.
Chamber of Deputies
 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | |||||
| First round | Second round (2015) | Second round (2016) | Total | |||
| Haitian Tèt Kale Party | 4 | 22 | 5 | 31 | ||
| Truth | 1 | 12 | 4 | 17 | ||
| Struggling People's Organization | 0 | 7 | 2 | 9 | ||
| Konvansyon Inite Demokratik | 0 | 7 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Fanmi Lavalas | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8 | ||
| Haiti in Action | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Reseau National Bouclier | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Patriotic Unity | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | ||
| Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Renmen Ayiti | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Alternative League for Haitian Progress and Emancipation | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Tet Kole sous Chimen Devlopman pou un Nord'Ouest uni et Renonve | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Consortium des Partis Politiques | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Platfòm Pitit Desalin | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Ansanm Patriyot pou Lavni Ayiti | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Pont | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Parti pour la Libération des Masses et d'Intégration Sociale | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Konbit Travaye Peyizan pou Libere Ayiti | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Mouvement National Haïtien | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Konsyans Patriotik | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Federalist Party | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Socialist Action Movement | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Konbit Nasyonal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Platfòm Leve Kanpe | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| CANAAN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Vacant | – | – | – | 3 | ||
| Total | 8 | 84 | 24 | 119 | ||
| Source: Haiti Libre, Haiti Libre, Haiti Libre, Haiti Libre | ||||||
Senate
| Party | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round | Second round (2015) | Second round (2016) | Total | |||
| Haitian Tèt Kale Party | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Truth | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Konvansyon Inite Demokratik | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Struggling People's Organization | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Fanmi Lavalas | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Haiti in Action | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reseau National Bouclier | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Patriotic Unity | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Consortium des Partis Politiques | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Pont | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Platfòm Pitit Desalin | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Ligue Dessalinienne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Total | 2 | 12 | 6 | 20 | ||
| Source: Haiti Libre, Haiti Libre, Haiti Libre, Haiti Libre | ||||||
List of elected senators
| Name | Party | Department |
|---|---|---|
| Antonio Chéramy | VÉRITÉ | Ouest |
| Carl Murat Cantave | KID | Artibonite |
| Denis Cadeau | BOUCLIER | Nippes |
| Dieudonné Luma Étienne | PHTK | Nord |
| Dieupie Chérubin | KID | Sud-Est |
| Evallière Beauplan | PONT | Nord-Ouest |
| Francenet Denis | VÉRITÉ | Nippes |
| Garcia Delva | AAA | Aribonite |
| Guy Philippe | CONSORTIUM | Grand'Anse |
| Jacques Sauveur Jean | PHTK | Nord-Est |
| Jean-Marie Junior Salomon | OPL | Sud |
| Jean Marie Ralph Féthière | PHTK | Nord |
| Jean Renel Sénatus | LIDE | Ouest |
| Jean Rigaud Bélizaire | CONSORTIUM | Grand'Anse |
| Joseph Lambert | KONA | Sud-Est |
| Kedlaire Augustin | PHTK | Nord-Ouest |
| Nawoon Marcellus | BOUCLIER | Nord |
| Nenel Cassy | FL | Nippes |
| Onondieu Louis | KID | Nord-Ouest |
| Pierre François Sildor | PHTK | Sud |
| Pierre Paul Patrice Dumont | RPH | Ouest |
| Ricardo Pierre | PITIT DESALIN | Sud-Est |
| Richard Lénine Hervé Fourcand | PHTK | Sud |
| Ronald Larèche | VÉRITÉ | Nord-Est |
| Rony Célestin | PHTK | Centre |
| Sorel Jacinthe | INITE | Grand'Anse |
| Wanique Pierre | PHTK | Nord-Est |
| Wilfrid Gélin | PHTK | Centre |
| Willot Joseph | PHTK | Centre |
| Youri Laturtue | AAA | Artibonite |
| Source: CEP | ||
References
- "Haiti first-round parliamentary elections held despite ′incidents′". Deutsche Welle. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- "Calendrier électoral" (in French). Provisional Electoral Council. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- "OAS will observe Haiti's elections but wants changes ahead of vote". Miami Herald. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Presidential Elections on October 9 – HaitiLibre.com : Haiti news 7/7". Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- "Will a Haiti election without U.S. dollars undermine the vote?". Miami Herald. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- Electoral system IPU
- "Haiti – Elections : Electoral Decree adopted, 19 more Deputies... – HaitiLibre.com : Haiti news 7/7". Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- Union, Inter-Parliamentary. "IPU PARLINE database: HAITI (Chambre des Députés), Last elections". Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- Electoral system IPU
- "Haiti sets date for long overdue elections". BBC. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- "Prensa Latina News Agency - Haitian Prime Minister Resigns after Agreement on Governance". Archived from the original on 2016-02-03. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Deputies – Final results of the 2nd round of October 25, 2015". Haiti Libre. 19 December 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Elections of January 24 are canceled !". HaitiLibre. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- "Haiti – FLASH : The elections of October 9 postponed". Haiti Libre. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- lefigaro.fr (14 October 2016). "Haïti: nouvelles dates pour les élections". Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- CEP Releases Final List of Candidates for Legislative Elections Archived 2015-05-29 at the Wayback Machine Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch, 19 May 2015
- Haiti – FLASH : Final list of approved candidates Haiti Libre, 15 May 2015
- "Haiti – FLASH : The platform VERITE withdraws from elections". Haiti-Libre. September 9, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
- "Haiti – News : Electoral Zapping..." Haiti-Libre. August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Complete results of the elections of August 9, 2015". HaitiLibre. August 21, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Final results of the 1st round of legislative elections of August 9, 2015". Haiti-Libre. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- "Haiti – Elections : Official Changes in the electoral timetable". Haiti-Libre. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Results of the senatorial elections of October 25, 2015". Haiti-Libre. 8 November 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Deputation, election results of October 25, 2015". Haiti-Libre. 8 November 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- "Haiti – FLASH : Elections of December 27th postponed !". Haiti Libre. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
- "Guy Philippe, former coup leader wanted by US, wins Haiti senate seat". The Guardian. Port-au-Prince. Reuters. December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
| Presidential elections | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary elections | |
| Senate elections | |
| Local elections |
|
| Referendums | |