Haiti: Parliament reconvenes for the first time since it was dissolved

Haiti’s parliament convened this week, the first time since January 2015.

The country’s parliament was dissolved on January 14, 2015, after talks for a deal to extend the terms of parliamentarians hit a deadlock. At the time, President Michel Martelly explained that the extension would last until new elections. The impasse left Martelly ruling by decree.

On Monday, the head of Haiti’s Senate, Andris Riche, declared that these were “difficult times” in Haiti.

“Some people are outside and criticizing our presence here in this room, but also the process of what happened to bring us here,” he said, making reference to the protests taking place outside the sitting.

The runoff to elect a new president was originally set for Dec. 27, 2015, but has been postponed to Jan. 24.

The vote is between the two top candidates from the first round of presidential elections, held in October 2015, Jovenel Moïse , of the governing party, and former government executive Jude Célestin .

According to the country’s Provisional Electoral Council, as well as the presidency, 26 senator seats and 6 seats for representatives are being contested January 24.

Haiti faces a number of challenges as it continues to experience political and social turmoil. Tuesday marked the 6th anniversary of the magnitude 7 earthquake that decimated infrastructure, claimed over 200,000 lives and displaced close to 1.5 million people.

Source: TeleSUR