Politics

The politics of Haiti takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Haiti is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the National Assembly of Haiti. The government is organised unitarily, thus the central government delegates powers to the departments without a constitutional need for consent. The current structure of Haiti's political system was set forth in the Constitution of March 29, 1987.

Haiti is officially a presidential republic, although it is often claimed to be authoritarian in practice. Suffrage is universal, for adults over 18. The constitution was modelled after those of the United States and of France. It was approved in March 1987, but it was completely suspended from June 1988 to March 1989 and was only fully reinstated in October 1994.

Executive Branch

Haiti's executive branch is composed of two parts, the presidency and the government. In this sense, "government" refers specifically to the portion of the executive branch outside of the presidency, and not to Haiti's political system as a whole.

The president is the head of state and elected by popular vote every five years. He is assisted by his cabinet, which must be approved by the National Assembly.

Haiti's government is composed of the Prime Minister, the other Ministers and the Secretaries of State. The Prime Minister (the head of government) is appointed by the president and ratified by the National Assembly. The Prime Minister appoints the Ministers and Secretaries of State and goes before the National Assembly to obtain a vote of confidence for his declaration of general policy. The Prime Minister enforces the laws and, along with the President, is responsible for national defence.

Legislative Branch

The bicameral National Assembly of Haiti (Assemblée Nationale) consists of the Chamber of Deputies (Chambre des Députés) and the Senate (Sénat). The Chamber of Deputies of Haiti has eighty three members, who are elected for four-year terms. The Senate of Haiti consists of twenty seven seats, one third elected every two years.

Judicial Branch

The legal system in Haiti is based on the Roman civil law system. Haiti accepts compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. There is a Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), assisted by local and civil courts at a communal level.