PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haiti’s transitional council president Leslie Voltaire said in an interview on Wednesday that a date for the Caribbean nation’s long-awaited general elections has been fixed for around Nov. 15 of this year.
Haiti has lacked elected representatives since January 2023 and has not held elections since 2016. The country’s capital is almost entirely controlled by armed gangs, and leaders have said security must first be established to hold a free and fair vote.
“We must pass on power to a legitimate, elected government on Feb. 7, 2026,” Voltaire told TV5 Monde, referring to a constitutional limit that has been repeatedly sidestepped as governments cited the difficulty of holding elections under a worsening security crisis.
Over one million Haitians have been internally displaced due to the conflict and around half the population – over five million – are going hungry as broadly allied armed gangs make territorial gains around the capital and in key agricultural areas, forcing key ports to repeatedly shut their operations.
Armed gangs exert a tight control over areas where they operate and have in recent months perpetrated several massacres, while Haiti’s judicial system alongside much of the state apparatus remains paralyzed.
Several leading politicians earlier this month submitted a proposal to include Viv Ansanm, the armed gang coalition that controls much of the capital, in political discussions while the current administration faces corruption accusations.
Speaking in a TV interview during a European tour, Voltaire said he had held a cordial meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day, in which Macron agreed to support efforts to boost security and prevent drug-trafficking.
Haiti is a former French colony that paid the European country a “debt” for over a century some activists say amounted to over $100 billion, crippling the country’s development.
He said a U.N.-backed mission mandated to help police fight gangs now numbered some 800 mostly Kenyan troops, well below the numbers needed, and warned of a worsening situation if the United States decides to cut key humanitarian aid and deport more migrants.
“It’s going to hurt,” he said.
By REUTERS
Reporting by Sarah Morland and Harold Isaac; Editing by Kylie Madry, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Alistair Bell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles
Sarah is a British-French journalist covering news from across Latin America and the Caribbean, including gender violence, mining developments, regional finance and conflict in Haiti. She joined Reuters in 2019 and studied investigative journalism at City, University of London. Based in Mexico City, Sarah enjoys spicy food, dad rock and befriending the local cat population.
