Haiti announces new date for elections, extends registration deadlines

Haiti admin October 29, 2026 0 Comments

Haiti announces new date for elections, extends registration deadlines

Haitian officials on Wednesday extended the registration deadline for candidates in the country’s long-overdue general elections by two weeks and announced a new date for the vote.

The elections, the first in more than a decade, were originally scheduled for Dec. 13. But earlier this month, the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council signaled that it would postpone the vote when it published new deadlines and a revised electoral law.

The CEP has now scheduled the first round of voting for July 18, 2027, and the second round for Oct. 4. The online registration for presidential and legislative candidates, which was supposed to end on Friday will now run end on Nov. 15 while those seeking local offices will have until Nov. 30. The final list of qualifying candidates is scheduled to be published on Dec. 4.

The electoral body also announced that voter registration will run through May 19, 2027.

The postponement of the vote comes as Haitians continue to suffer from attacks by armed gangs, which since Oct. 19 have been carrying out armed assaults in the Lower Artibonite region and as El Salvador deploys hundreds of soldiers to Haiti outside the framework of the United Nations-authorized Gang Suppression Force. The El Salvador deployment comes after four of the country’s aviation technicians were ambushed on Oct. 18 in the Croix-des-Bouquets area east of the capital.

Haiti has struggled to register voters amid a process that has required travel to voting centers, sometimes passing through gang-controlled roads and neighborhoods largely emptied out by gangs. As of Wednesday, just 887,362 Haitians had registered to vote out of a potential electorate of 6.5 million people who have national identification cards, which are needed to register. Among the changes the electoral council has announced is allowing Haitians to register online.

In the weeks since the electoral council removed requirements meant to make it difficult for individuals with sanctions from participating, the ambassadors of France and Spain have publicly opposed allowing individuals under sanctions from participating in the elections for president, Parliament and local offices. Several of the 19 individuals who have already registered online to run, have been sanctioned by the United States, Canada or the European Union. Former president Michel Martelly, who last week turned in his paperwork to run for the top post again, has been blacklisted by all three of Haiti’s foreign partners.

Despite the public stance of the European countries, the Trump administration has not publicly commented on the revised electoral law. Haiti observers worry that as armed gangs continue to wreak havoc, loosening qualifications for candidates will make it easier for those with gang affiliations to hold office.