Haiti parliament headed for no clear majority
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Haiti’s notoriously unstable politics was plunged into fresh uncertainty Sunday after preliminary results showed that no party won a clear majority in parliament.
It comes with the poorest country in the Western hemisphere already on a knife edge after one of the candidates in the presidential runoff called the first-round results of the October 25 elections a farce, fanning growing opposition protests.
Haiti suffers from chronic instability and has struggled to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people and crippled the nation’s infrastructure.
Its parliament was dissolved on January 13 after lawmakers’ terms were not extended, and the legislative chambers have remained empty.
The legislative elections, held on August 9 and October 25, were more than three years behind the constitutional schedule because of a crisis between the executive, led by President Michel Martelly, and the opposition.
Haiti’s 5.8 million voters were tasked with choosing two-thirds of their senators, or 20 posts, and all the 119 members in the Chamber of Deputies.
But no single party gained enough votes for a majority, official results out late Saturday showed.
Parties have 72 hours to challenge the preliminary results.
Adding to the air of uncertainty, electoral authorities had canceled the first round of balloting in nearly a quarter of constituencies because violence on the August 9 polling day prevented a fair vote.
The final results are scheduled to be published on November 22, but the final composition of the Haitian parliament will not be known until the end of the year, after voting in those constituencies hampered by violence on August 9.
There are also fears about the December 27 presidential runoff, which sees Jude Celestin, of the Lapeh party, up against ruling-party candidate Jovenel Moise.
The 53-year-old Celestin told a news conference on Friday that the first-round results were a “ridiculous farce,” after his opponent garnered 32 per cent to his 25 per cent.
