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Development: On 2 May, only 16 out of Haiti's 30 senators and 53 deputies (out of a total 99) sat for the inaugural session of the 49th legislature.

Significance: The incomplete state of the legislature -17 congress seats and 2 senate seats are still be contested with remaining legislators refusing to attend in protest at the final legislative results- points to ongoing electoral chaos and uncertainty caused by the provisional electoral council (CEP)'s last minute reversal of 19 legislative results. These gave the ruling Inité of outgoing President René Préval a much greater presence than the preliminary count suggested.

Key points:

• With the new president Michel Martelly due to take office on 14 May, there is no end in sight to the chaos in the legislature (in which his party, Repons Pezyizan, has a total of three seats). On 29 April the Organization of American States (OAS)-Caricom joint Electoral Observation Mission (JEOM) issued a statement recommending a return to the preliminary results after "analysis of the eighteen [sic.] cases of reversal of ranking of legislative candidates". The JEOM statement also blasted Haiti's national electoral complaints and challenges bureau (BCEN) saying its judges "did not display the necessary serenity and patience to draft their decisions with the thoroughness required… In general, the decisions merely proclaim the winner without setting out the arguments or the reasoning that led to the decision".

• This call by the OAS and the international community for the authorities to provide reasons for the reversals bears marked contrast to its willingness to turn a blind eye to the CEP's failure to provide any breakdown of the controversial 28 November first round results when, under heavy international pressure, it reversed its rankings of the second and third placed presidential contenders to give Martelly a place in the second round runoff at the expense of the Inité candidate, Jude Célestin.

• The chaos aside, the influence of the Inité in the legislature was confirmed with Inité Senator Rodolphe Joazile taking over the presidency of the senate and Deputy Sorel Jacinthe as leader of the lower house. While Préval's party looks set to retain 17 seats in the senate, it was granted 46 seats in the lower chamber according to final results, up from an initial 33 it was thought to have won.

Development: On 3 May, the indigenous leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Rigoberta Menchú confirmed a fresh bid for the presidency for her party, Winaq, in the scheduled September 2011 general election.

Significance:  Having taken barely 3% of the vote in the 2007 presidential contest, few believe that Menchú can fare much better this year. However, her candidacy represents the first concerted effort to unite the Guatemalan Left; on 7 May she is expected to be declared presidential candidate for the Frente Amplio de Izquierda, a broad coalition comprising Winaq along with the former guerilla-turned political party Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), the other main left-wing party, Alianza Nueva Nación (ANN), as well over 25 popular youth, indigenous and peasant organizations.

Key points:

• In the three elections since the 1996 Peace Accords which ended the 36-year bloody civil war (1999, 2003 and 2007), the Left has persistently failed to overcome internal differences and splits, costing it influence in the executive and the legislature. In the 2007 elections, the URNG and the ANN combined mustered less than 3% of the presidential vote. On 3.27% of the national vote, the URNG won just two seats in the 158-seat congress and the ANN got none.

• This is in marked contrast to the strength of former guerrilla-turned left-wing parties in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Respectively, the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) now govern those countries.

• Separately, the local supreme electoral court confirmed that the first round of the elections will take place on 11 September, with a presidential run-off slated for 4 November. Aside from the presidency and congress, 333 mayoral seats in 22 departments are up for grabs, along with 20 seats in the Central American parliament (Parlacen).