Haiti postpones voter registration for first election in a decade, no new dates given

By Harold Isaac

PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 8 (Reuters) – Haiti’s CEP electoral council said on Wednesday it was postponing a voter registration that should have begun on April 1, adding it would shortly announce new dates to register for the nation’s first presidential election in a decade.

The CEP previously scheduled the first round of presidential elections in the Caribbean’s most populous country for August 30, with a runoff vote in December.

However, a long-standing deterioration in security conditions which has forced over 1.4 million people – some 12% of the population – from their homes has cast doubt on the government’s ability to deliver a free and fair vote.

CEP President Jacques Desrosiers told Reuters the delay was due to a legal matter tied to the new government of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, and that the government must now deliver a new decree which could delay the process.

Desrosiers said if the new decree is issued on time, elections could still be held by the end of this year.

Desrosiers told Reuters late last year that the CEP had evaluated hundreds of voting centers in June, but after that access worsened as armed gangs expanded their spheres of influence outside the capital to central and rural Haiti.

Haiti has not held elections since 2016. Its last president, Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021, after delaying a vote. Successive governments have been tasked with holding an election but have repeatedly delayed this, citing security concerns.

Violent armed gangs, largely grouped under a broad alliance known as Viv Ansanm, have taken control of most of the capital Port-au-Prince, home to over a quarter of the population and cemented their hold over recent years.

Viv Ansanm, which is itself seeking political recognition, has been designated a terrorist organization by Washington and is accused of mass kidnappings, gang rapes, arson, indiscriminate killings, and gun, organ and drug trafficking.

Last month, the CEP said it had approved 282 political parties to compete in the elections. It has yet to announce official candidates.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac and Sarah Morland, Editing by Iñigo Alexander)