Haitian Senate election, 2009

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Senate elections for a third of the seats in the Senate of Haiti were held on 19 April 2009 (they were scheduled for March or April 2008, but were postponed), with a run-off to be held on 21 June 2009.[1][2][3] Per the Constitution of Haiti, voters should renew ten of the thirty seats in the Senate, but as Pierre Emmanuel Limage (representing Fwon Lespwa, the party of President René Préval, for Artibonite) died in a car accident and Ultimo Compère (representing Fwon Lespwa for Centre Department; his term would have expired in 2008 regularly) and Rudolph H. Boulos (representing the Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats for Nord-Est Department) resigned, there will be twelve open seats instead.[4]

The seats for which elections will be held are divided among parties as follows:

Preparations were finished in late May 2008.

40 candidates were not allowed to contest the election, including Guy Philippe and all 17 from Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas, reportedly due to procedural mistakes and missing signatures or possibly even two lists of candidates submitted in some constituencies. 79 candidates were approved.[5] The disqualification was strongly criticised by local and international organisations alike, with some even claiming that the elections were not really democratic. Turnout was very low.[6] A majority for president Préval's Fwon Lespwa party could aid him in amending the constitution to increase the president's power and allowing a second consecutive term.[7][8] Run-off elections were expected for many seats due to the high number of candidates.

Voting for Ultimo Compère's vacant seat in the Centre Department had to be rescheduled after voters ransacked polling places and a poll supervisor was shot in Mirebalais. Results took a few days, as they were all be tabulated in Port-au-Prince and therefore all ballots had to arrive there before they can be counted.[9] None of the candidates in any of the departments managed to get more than half of the votes in the first round, so the two candidates in each departments were set to face each other in a run-off on 7 June 2009.[10] Turnout for the first round was around 11%.[11] The run-off was on 13 May 2009 announced to have been postponed to 21 June 2009, due to legal problems with election challenges; by that date, no date had been set for the re-run of the election in the Centre Department.[3]

According to final results including annulment of illegal votes, the following parties had candidates in the run-off:[12]

In the second round, LESPWA won five seats, and five parties won one seat each (OPL, AAA, FUSION, KONBA, UCADDE), as well as an independent.

 Summary of the 19 April and 21 June 2009 Haitian Senate election results
Parties 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Candidates
in the run-off		 Votes % Seats
Fwon Lespwa (LESPWA) 131,647 29.68% 8 (of 10) 178,482 43.22% 5
Struggling People's Organization (OPL) 90,549 20.41% 5 (of 8) 85,834 20.79% 1
Fusion of Haitian Social Democrats (FUSION) 34,191 7.71% 3 (of 7) 41,621 10.08% 1
L'Artibonite in Action (AAA) 44,896 10.12% 2 (of 6) 37,188 9.01% 1
Union of Haitian Citizens for Democracy, Development and Education (UCADDE) 14,806 3.34% 1 (of 2) 16,943 4.10% 1
Independents 23,254 5.24% 1 (of 8) 16,643 4.03% 1
Working Together for Haiti (KONBA) 18,751 4.23% 1 (of 4) 15,909 3.85% 1
Christian National Union for the Reconstruction of Haiti (UNION) 30,205 6.81% 1 (of 10) 14,499 3.51% 0
Respect (RESPE) 12,976 2.93% 0 (of 2)  
Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Haiti–Revolutionary Party of Haiti (MODELH–PRDH) 11,024 2.49% 0 (of 2)
Independent Movement for National Reconciliation (MIRN) 7,794 1.76% 0 (of 2)
Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RNDP) 7,382 1.66% 0 (of 3)
National Unity Party (PUN) 4,481 1.01% 0 (of 2)
Social Renewal Party (PSR) 2,461 0.56% 0 (of 2)
Movement for the Installation of Democracy in Haïti (MIDH) 1,931 0.44% 0 (of 1)
Popular Agreement Party (PEP) 937 0.21% 0 (of 1)
For Us All (PONT) 160 0.04% 0 (of 1)
No candidate 6,171 1.39% — 5,841 1.41% —
Total 443,616 100.00 22 412,960 100.00 11
Sources: CEP, CEP

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://electionguide.org/election.php?ID=1726
  2. ↑ http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/266447,no-winners-emerge-from-senate-elections-in-haiti-june-runoff-set.html
  3. 1 2 http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article8343
  4. ↑ Prensa Latina
  5. ↑ http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1233586921839
  6. ↑ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/2009419224231220542.html
  7. ↑ http://www.newsobserver.com/1573/story/1488164.html
  8. ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwk_RJA8imQ2nmsEHQfRcrTkzcJgD97LS7HG0
  9. ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwk_RJA8imQ2nmsEHQfRcrTkzcJgD97MHOC80
  10. ↑ http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/266447,no-winners-emerge-from-senate-elections-in-haiti-june-runoff-set.html
  11. ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwk_RJA8imQ2nmsEHQfRcrTkzcJgD97RLGUO2
  12. ↑ http://www.cep-ht.org/Documents/Results_Sen2009_1/resultats_definitifs_senatoriales_2009_mai.pdf

Additional Background

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