Overview:
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council entered the second week of voter registration with operations opening within the West Division, the place registration stays restricted to Pétion-Ville, Delmas and Tabarre due to insecurity. The council says it can regularly broaden registration facilities as circumstances permit forward of the Dec. 13 elections and constitutional referendum.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) entered the second week of voter registration Monday with operations persevering with with out main disruptions, together with in components of the West Division that have been initially excluded due to safety issues.
The West Division, which incorporates Port-au-Prince and its massive metropolitan space, joined the nationwide registration marketing campaign on July 30, 10 days after the method started in Haiti’s different 9 departments. Registration stays restricted to 10 facilities in Petion-Ville, Delmas and Tabarre, the place authorities say election staff can function regardless of the broader safety issues that hold a lot of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan space beneath gang management.
“This doesn’t imply there can be solely 10 registration facilities within the West,” CEP President Jacques Desrosiers mentioned throughout the course of launch. “The council will proceed opening registration facilities throughout the nation so that folks can take the steps towards voting.”
Residents continued to register on Monday because the CEP urged eligible voters with legitimate Nationwide Identification Playing cards to enroll forward of elections. Beneath a revised schedule, Haitians are anticipated to vote within the first spherical of presidential and legislative elections and a proposed constitutional referendum on Dec. 13, adopted by a second spherical on Feb. 21, 2027, for native elections and attainable presidential and legislative runoffs. Last outcomes and installations are anticipated by March 12, 2027, which might finish a decade with out nationwide elections.
“The Council will proceed opening registration facilities throughout the nation so that folks can take the steps towards voting.”
Jacques Desrosiers, president of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council
The council mentioned every registration middle can even function a polling station, which means voters will solid their ballots on the similar location the place they register.
Massive parts of the division, particularly the Port-au-Prince metropolitan space—together with Carrefour, Martissant, Cité Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets—stay inaccessible as a result of armed gangs proceed to manage or closely affect these areas. The CEP has not introduced when registration will start there.
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Two Provisional Electoral Council staff register voters at Lycée Nationwide de Pétion-Ville’s Registration and Voting Middle throughout the launch of the method within the West Division on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Picture by Juhakenson Blaise/The Haitian Occasions.
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Two Haitian Nationwide Law enforcement officials register to vote at Lycée Nationwide de Pétion-Ville’s Registration and Voting Middle on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Picture by Juhakenson Blaise/The Haitian Occasions. -
Jacques Desrosiers, president of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, speaks throughout the launch of voter registration within the West Division at Lycée Nationwide de Pétion-Ville on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Picture by Juhakenson Blaise/The Haitian Occasions.
Desrosiers mentioned the council plans to broaden registration as safety circumstances enhance, counting on authorities assurances that electoral personnel will have the ability to work in extra communes as soon as entry is restored.
The voter registration marketing campaign marks one other milestone in Haiti’s long-delayed electoral course of. Final week, after months of criticism from political events and civil society teams demanding a transparent timetable, the CEP formally revealed a revised electoral calendar.
At the same time as registration progresses, the CEP continues to emphasise that restoring safety and securing ample funding stay important to holding credible, inclusive elections nationwide.