Government of Haiti

[1] The Prime Minister acts as head of government and is appointed by the President, chosen from the majority party in the National Assembly.

[3] The Prime Minister acts as head of government and is appointed by the President, chosen from the majority party in the National Assembly.

[8] In 1806, Constituent Assembly created a new constitution and appointed Henri Christophe to a four-year term as President of the Republic of Haiti.

[9] In 1818, Pétion died of a fever and Jean-Pierre Boyer, Chief of the Presidential Guard, was appointed President-for-Life of the Republic of Haiti.

In 1964, he declared himself president for life and established that his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc", would succeed him.

During their regime, opposition to the government was not tolerated; thus, the Duvaliers used violence and terror to suppress the masses, killing about 30,000 Haitians.

The Duvalier family stole millions of dollars during their administration, leaving Haiti in extreme debt today.

[13] On February 29, 2004, a coup d'état led by the Group of 184 ousted the popularly elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, allegedly with the assistance of the French and United States governments; U.S. and French soldiers were on the ground in Haiti at the time, recently arrived (See controversy).

In 2008, Parliament voted to dismiss President Preval's Prime Minister following severe rioting over food prices.

[15] His selected replacement for the post was rejected by Parliament, throwing the country into a prolonged period without a 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.

He 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 ministries of the Haitian government are:[19] The bicameral National Assembly of Haiti (Assemblée Nationale) consists of the Chamber of Deputies (Chambre des Députés) and the Senate (Sénat).

[18] Prior to a 2002 territorial law which created a tenth department, the Chamber of Deputies had eighty three seats and the Senate had twenty-seven.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, is in line to succeed the President in case of death or resignation, according to the 1987 Constitution of Haiti.