Summary In the voting for the 119-seat Chamber of Deputies, only eight candidates won outright
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - The vast majority of races in Haiti s legislative election in August will have to go to a second round, the national electoral commission said Monday.
In fact, in the voting for the 119-seat Chamber of Deputies, only eight candidates won outright, the tribunal said.
And in races for 20 senate seats at stake, only two got through the first round of balloting in the Americas poorest country.
The election was held August 9. These results were three weeks late in being announced.
This was the first election held in Haiti since President Michel Martelly took power in 2011.
Because of conflicts between him and the legislative branch, the parliamentary election was delayed for more than three years.
But when the vote finally was held, not many Haitians seemed to care: turnout on election day was 18 percent.
The party with the most candidate, which now has made it to the second round run-off stage, is the PHTK, the party of Martelly, the commission said. Four of its people won seats in the first round.
Because of violence on election day, the voting will be held all over again in 24 of the country s 119 electoral districts, the election commission said.
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, 2015 after lawmakers terms were not extended, and the legislative chambers have remained empty.
First round presidential voting is scheduled for October 25. Fifty four candidates are running.
This promised to be a challenging day for destitute Haiti: The second round of legislative elections will also be held that day, as will municipal elections.
Yet another election -- at the provincial level -- was to have been held October 25, but now has been put off until December 27.
