A DECADE WITHOUT A VOTE: Haiti Finally Sets Election Dates for 2027

Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council announced Wednesday evening that the first round of presidential and legislative elections will be held July 18, 2027, with a second round on October 4, 2027 and final results announced October 23, AFP reported.

The vote would mark the country's first polls in more than a decade. Haiti last held elections in 2016, and its last president was assassinated in 2021 and has not been replaced.

The country had been due to hold presidential and legislative elections this December and next February, but postponed them several weeks ago amid the security crisis.

That crisis is severe. Nearly 1.5 million of Haiti's approximately 11 million inhabitants are internally displaced by violence, according to the International Organization for Migration. Several municipalities under gang control do not have registration centres, and gangs often close roads across the country.

Gang violence has left at least 5,700 people dead or wounded this year, while more than 1,000 women and girls have been raped, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in early October, citing figures compiled by the UN mission in Haiti up to September 11. The figures also include at least 230 kidnappings, and Turk said the real figures are likely much higher. A UN-backed Gang Suppression Force is being slowly deployed to assist overwhelmed local police. The mission is intended to reach 5,500 personnel but has only about 1,500 so far.