Haiti schedules first elections in a decade amid gang violence

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council has scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections for December 13, marking the first such vote in a decade. A potential runoff is slated for February 21, 2027.

The announcement has met with significant skepticism from local activists and observers due to the country’s pervasive security crisis. Gangs are estimated to control between 70 percent and 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, making voter registration, campaigning, and polling potentially impossible in many areas. Recent violence remains high, including a massacre in Kenscoff where armed groups killed 47 people.

Critics, including Pierre Robert Auguste, have questioned the feasibility of these elections, arguing that international actors are prioritizing a calendar over the necessary security guarantees. There are concerns that attempting to hold elections without restoring order undermines national sovereignty and ignores the reality of the gang-dominated landscape.