Port-au-Prince, Haiti — Haiti’s government on Monday opened a 10-day registration period for political parties to run in the upcoming general election, a crucial step for a country that has not held one in more than a decade due to deadly gang violence.
Heavily armed soldiers and police surrounded the headquarters of Haiti’s provisional electoral council as a handful of political activists for long-established parties picked up necessary documents.
He was joined by psychologist Pierre Dieu-Donne Delis, who led a new party called Tools for Another Haiti. Delice told The Associated Press that he and other party members are fed up with the transitional government that has been in power since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021 at his private residence.
“They love transition because there is no control. They can do whatever they want,” Delis said of Haiti’s current government.
Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is the current interim leader of the troubled country, where gangs control an estimated 90% of land in Port-au-Prince and the central region.
He has the backing of the US government and was power-sharing with the Transitional Presidential Council set up in 2024, nearly three years after Moise’s assassination. The Council stepped down by law on February 7, leaving Fils-Aimé as the sole leader of the country.
Haiti’s government has pledged to hold general elections in late August and a runoff in early December, but it’s unclear whether that will happen.
“Conditions are not yet ready for elections,” lamented new party leader Delis, adding that mob violence continued in several areas. “There is no way for candidates to campaign there. … If the situation is as it is now, it will be impossible to hold elections.”
More than 5,900 people were reported killed and more than 2,700 injured across Haiti last year, according to UN figures.
Gang violence has displaced a record 1.4 million people in a country of about 12 million residents.
Delise himself had to flee his home in the central coastal town of Arkahai with his family after being attacked by heavily armed gangs.
He has had to move his party headquarters from his hometown to Port-au-Prince and is forced to travel by boat or helicopter to meet regional party members as gangs retain control of the main routes in and out of the capital, occasionally shooting at passing vehicles.
Minister in charge of Electoral Affairs, Joseph Andre Gracin Jean, celebrated the opening of the registration of political parties on Monday.
“Today, we take a big step forward,” he told the AP. “People must choose to return to a democratic order.”
He said the council will not wait until security is established across Haiti to register parties.
“It’s been a long process; step by step, we’re moving forward,” Gracen Jean said. “What’s important is that the executive branch is making the effort.”
The registration process ends on March 12 and officials expect to pick up speed before the deadline.
Haiti’s national police chief, André Jonas Wladimir Parison, recently told the AP that authorities are still working on a plan to hold general elections safely.
In the coming months, a new anti-gang force is expected to replace the UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police, which remains understaffed and underfunded.
(tags to translate)run-off election
