Just under 300 political parties, coalitions to participate in upcoming Haiti election

Haiti’s Pro­vi­sion­al Elec­toral Coun­cil (CEP) has ap­proved 282 po­lit­i­cal par­ties and coali­tions to par­tic­i­pate in up­com­ing elec­tions, mark­ing a step for­ward in a long-de­layed process un­fold­ing amid deep in­se­cu­ri­ty and po­lit­i­cal un­cer­tain­ty.

The list that was pub­lished af­ter a 10-day reg­is­tra­tion pe­ri­od that end­ed on March 12, saw 320 or­ga­ni­za­tions reg­is­ter—in­clud­ing most ma­jor po­lit­i­cal par­ties and plat­forms.

How­ev­er, no­table ab­sences in­clude the Par­ti Hait­ian Tèt Kale — the par­ty of for­mer Pres­i­dent Michel Joseph Martel­ly — as well as the Ré­sis­tance Dé­moc­ra­tique (RED) plat­form led by for­mer of­fi­cials al­lied with the late Pres­i­dent Jovenel Moïse.

Among the par­ties cleared to par­tic­i­pate are Fan­mi Lavalas of for­mer Pres­i­dent Jean-Bertrand Aris­tide, the Or­gan­i­sa­tion du Pe­u­ple en Lutte (OPL), Pitit Dessalines, Les En­gagés pour le Développe­ment (EDE) led by for­mer Prime Min­is­ter Claude Joseph and Ay­i­ti An Aksy­on (AAA) of for­mer Sen­a­tor Youri La­tortue, among oth­ers.

How­ev­er, it is not known why PH­TK and RED were ex­clud­ed.

The elec­toral coun­cil said par­ties not yet ap­proved have un­til April 2 to com­plete their reg­is­tra­tion, mean­ing the list could still ex­pand.

“The Pro­vi­sion­al Elec­toral Coun­cil reaf­firms its com­mit­ment to con­duct­ing an in­clu­sive and im­par­tial elec­toral process, with full in­de­pen­dence and trans­paren­cy,” the coun­cil said in a state­ment.

The next phase of the elec­toral cal­en­dar in­cludes vot­er reg­is­tra­tion from April 1 to June 29, fol­lowed by can­di­date reg­is­tra­tion from April 13 to May 15.

Cam­paign­ing for the first round of leg­isla­tive and pres­i­den­tial elec­tions is sched­uled to run from May through late Au­gust.

De­spite this progress, crit­i­cal el­e­ments re­main un­re­solved, in­clud­ing the to­tal cost of the elec­tions and how they will be fi­nanced.

Ear­li­er this week, Prime Min­is­ter Al­ix Di­di­er Fils-Aimé met with elec­toral of­fi­cials and in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners, in­clud­ing the Unit­ed Na­tions De­vel­op­ment Pro­gram (UNDP), Unit­ed Na­tions Of­fice for Project Ser­vices (UN­OPS) and the Or­ga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can States (OAS), to dis­cuss fund­ing.

Jacques Desrosiers, pres­i­dent of the elec­toral coun­cil, said both fi­nanc­ing and im­proved se­cu­ri­ty are pre­req­ui­sites for hold­ing cred­i­ble elec­tions — the first in more than a decade.

How­ev­er, Prime Min­is­ter Fils-Aimé gave re­as­sur­ances.

“The elec­tions will be held,” he said in a state­ment af­ter the meet­ing with stake­hold­ers. “Their suc­cess is a his­toric and col­lec­tive re­spon­si­bil­i­ty. Since Feb­ru­ary 7, 2026, Haiti has en­tered a new phase of tran­si­tion, struc­tured around a clear roadmap: restor­ing se­cu­ri­ty, re­build­ing the econ­o­my, and or­ga­niz­ing gen­er­al elec­tions.”

Hold­ing elec­tions re­mains a ma­jor chal­lenge in a coun­try where vi­o­lence con­tin­ues to dis­rupt dai­ly life.

Armed groups, in­clud­ing the Viv Ansanm, con­trol large swathes of Port-au-Prince and key na­tion­al roads, lim­it­ing move­ment and po­ten­tial­ly ac­cess to polling sites.

Ac­cord­ing to the Unit­ed Na­tions, more than 1.4 mil­lion peo­ple have been dis­placed by vi­o­lence. But many have lost iden­ti­fi­ca­tion doc­u­ments is­sued by the Na­tion­al Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion Of­fice, which has com­pli­cat­ed vot­er reg­is­tra­tion.

Se­cu­ri­ty forces say op­er­a­tions are on­go­ing. The Hait­ian Na­tion­al Po­lice re­port­ed that 43 sus­pect­ed gang mem­bers were killed in 32 op­er­a­tions dur­ing the first quar­ter of 2026, along­side ma­jor seizures of weapons and am­mu­ni­tion.

Au­thor­i­ties al­so plan to de­ploy ad­di­tion­al per­son­nel, in­clud­ing mem­bers of Haiti’s armed forces, to sup­port po­lice op­er­a­tions and se­cure vot­ing ar­eas.

“The army’s strength­en­ing aims to help se­cure the en­vi­ron­ment for elec­tions this year,” De­fense Min­is­ter Mario An­dré­sol said dur­ing a vis­it to a mil­i­tary base in Léogâne, about 21 miles south­west of here.

The push to se­cure elec­tions comes as in­ter­na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty sup­port evolves.

The Multi­na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Sup­port Mis­sion (MSS)—led by Kenyan forces since 2024—is grad­u­al­ly scal­ing down, with con­tin­gents re­turn­ing home in re­cent months. Au­thor­i­ties say the mis­sion will tran­si­tion to a new force, with Chad ex­pect­ed to de­ploy up to 800 per­son­nel by April 15.

De­spite these ef­forts, crit­ics say se­cu­ri­ty con­di­tions on the ground have shown lit­tle im­prove­ment, rais­ing doubts about whether elec­tions can be con­duct­ed safe­ly and cred­i­bly.

For now, the ap­proval of po­lit­i­cal par­ties marks progress on pa­per, but the broad­er con­di­tions need­ed for a suc­cess­ful vote re­main un­cer­tain. —PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC)