Haiti takes step toward first elections since 2016

The government of Haiti has taken a major step toward holding long-delayed elections with the creation of a body to oversee the polls.

The nine-member provisional electoral council, established on Wednesday, is tasked with organizing the elections before February 2026.

The last time Haitians put someone in power was in 2016.

Since then, armed gangs have taken control of almost all of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and large parts of the countryside.

So far, seven members of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) have been appointed.

Among them are representatives of the media, academia, trade unions and religious groups.

The creation of the CEP comes less than two weeks after a visit to Port-au-Prince by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called on Haiti’s provisional government to continue the electoral process.

Blinken said setting up an electoral college was a “critical next step.”

Haiti’s last presidential election was held in 2016, when Jovenel Moïse of the Tèt Kale party was elected for a five-year term.

Since Moïse was assassinated by Colombian mercenaries in July 2021, the post of president has been vacant.

In the years that followed, Haiti was ruled by Ariel Henry, the man President Moïse had nominated as prime minister shortly before his death.

But when Henry left for Guyana for a summit on February 25, 2024, gangs seized Port-au-Prince International Airport and prevented him from returning.

Henry stepped down in April and a Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) was established to lead the country until elections could be held.

The TPC appointed Garry Conille as interim prime minister until a democratically elected government takes power.

A multinational security force led by Kenya was also sent to assist Haitian police in containing the gangs.

Although the multinational force has managed to capture a number of gang leaders, the power of these criminal organizations has grown so great that Prime Minister Conille extended a state of emergency to the entire country earlier this month.

The multinational force is short on funding and so far only 600 Kenyans and a small contingent of Jamaicans have arrived in Haiti.

Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the international community for not providing more aid to Haiti: “I think it is a scandal that it has proven so difficult to mobilize funds for such a dramatic situation.”