Haiti’s ruling party takes Senate elections

With the latest victories, the Lespwa party has 12 seats in the 30-member Haiti Senate.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 1, 2009 – The ruling Lespwa party of Haitian President Rene Preval has taken the lion share of the 11 seats up for grabs in Senate elections, preliminary results have indicated.

It took five, while five other parties won one seat each and the other went to a registered independent in the June 21st run-off election.

Voting for another seat will take place later, after initial balloting was cancelled as a result of political violence in the area.

With the latest victories, the Lespwa party has 12 seats in the 30-member Haiti Senate.

However, some sitting Senators have threatened to try to block the seating of the victors because of extremely low voter turnout in the run-offs and alleged fraud in April's first round.