Ravaged by gang violence, Haiti postpones its presidential election again

After ten years without elections, Haiti will have to wait again to reconnect with democracy. The electoral authorities announced on Tuesday the postponement of the first stages of the electoral process, thus postponing indefinitely the presidential and legislative elections which were to begin on December 13, in a country racked by gang violence.

The first round of these elections in the poorest country in the Americas was to take place on December 13 and the second round on February 21, 2027, according to the initial schedule published at the end of July. The Haitian state has not had elections since 2016 and its last president, assassinated in 2021, has not been replaced.

Gangs increase murders and rapes

The Provisional Electoral Council specifies in a press release that the new calendar “will be made public as soon as possible”. He assures that it will be updated to take into account the “technical and operational requirements of the process as well as the conditions necessary for the proper conduct of the different stages of the electoral process”.

Haiti has long suffered a political, economic and security crisis, but the situation has deteriorated significantly in recent years, with gangs increasing the number of murders, kidnappings, rapes and recruitment of children.

Of around 11 million inhabitants, nearly 1.5 million are displaced because of the violence, according to an estimate made public by the International Organization for Migration, emphasizing that the attacks did not only concern the capital Port-au-Prince. At least 5,700 people have been killed or injured since the start of the year in Haiti, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned in early October.

A UN-backed force is slow to form

A UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (FRG) is being formed to assist overwhelmed local police forces. It was initially expected to reach a workforce of 5,500 uniformed personnel and 50 civilians, but according to the United States Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz only “1,500 military personnel” are currently deployed on the ground.

Insecurity also compromises electoral preparations: several municipalities escape the control of the authorities and do not have registration centers. In this context, less than 800,000 voters have registered on the electoral lists in a country which has around 7 million inhabitants of voting age, according to data from the Provisional Electoral Council.

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The closure of numerous roads, under threat from gangs, is also preventing the delivery of electoral materials to several regions of the country.