Haiti eyes year-end election goal subject to security situation

Haiti’s electoral council on Monday set December 13 as the date for the crisis-wracked nation’s first elections in a decade, pending the establishment of an acceptable security environment.

The first round of presidential, legislative and local elections would be held on December 13, along with a vote on constitutional changes, according to a decree by the Provisional Electoral Council.
“A runoff round is to take place on 21 February, 2027, with final results published on 7 March,” the decree said.

However, it warned that the schedule depends on the establishment of an acceptable security environment and the availability of the necessary financial resources.

The timetable also said voter registration opened on 20 July and set a 2 October deadline for candidate registration.

Elections have not been held in Haiti since 2016, and the country’s last elected president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021.

Powerful gangs control large swaths of the island nation, including the majority of the capital, Port-au-Prince, casting uncertainty over the ability for sufficient security to be established before December.

A Kenya-led international force sent to back up Haiti’s police failed to help stem the violence.

The UN-authorised force has since been transformed into a Gang Suppression Force (GSF) with a greater mandate to confront the armed groups.

“Additional reinforcements are expected in the coming weeks,” a GSF spokesperson said earlier in July, with the goal of reaching 5,500 uniformed personnel and 50 civilian staff.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ 2026 humanitarian aid plan for Haiti, earmarked at $880 million, is less than one-quarter funded.

In a June visit to the country, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried the indifference of a world that has looked away.

Nearly 1.5 million people are currently displaced in a country of about 11 million, and more than five million are facing severe food insecurity, according to UN figures.

“The humanitarian situation here is desperate, but there are faint glimmers of hope,” Guterres wrote during his visit.

The Caribbean Community grouping of nations, known as CARICOM, welcomed the electoral council’s decree.

A statement from the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group urged nations contributing to the GSF to deploy their personnel as early as possible to bolster support capacity well before the first round of the elections.