Haiti — Can people vote when part of the country is beyond state control?

Haiti wants to vote. The question is: in what country? Electoral preparations are moving forward while armed groups continue to impose their rule over part of the territory.

Élie Dorval

25 September 2026 | Reading time: 9 minutes

Preparations for Haiti’s electoral process in 2026. Photograph source: Euronews.

« An election begins long before polling day: people must be able to register, travel, campaign, listen, challenge the government and reach a polling station without seeking permission from an armed group. »

Haiti has not held a national election for almost a decade. Following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, the transition dragged on amid political crises and the expansion of armed groups. The mandate of the Transitional Presidential Council ended in February 2026 without the promised elections having taken place. Executive power is now exercised by the Council of Ministers led by Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.

In a country that has lacked elected leaders for so long, every postponement raises a question of legitimacy. But holding the poll under current conditions raises another: what is an election worth if some citizens cannot participate freely?

The ballot paper against the guns

The problem is not confined to protecting polling stations on election day. An election begins much earlier. People must be able to register, travel, hold meetings, campaign, distribute leaflets, listen to candidates, challenge the government and reach a polling station without asking permission from an armed group.

Violence is no longer confined to a few districts of the capital. Gangs have intensified operations in rural areas, with kidnappings, cattle theft and roadblocks. Clashes and security operations killed more than 3,000 people in the first half of 2026. Nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced.

Mass displacement creates an electoral problem in itself. Where does someone vote when they no longer live at the address where they are registered? How can electoral rolls be updated when families move repeatedly to escape violence? How can candidates be guaranteed equal access to the territory?

In July, Haiti’s foreign minister told the Security Council that seven of the ten departments could host electoral activity without major security obstacles, while the other three required reinforced security.

Haiti therefore faces two risks: waiting for perfect security could mean waiting indefinitely; voting too soon could produce an election from which part of the country would, in practice, be excluded.

ESSENTIAL POINTS

25 September 2026
Haiti wants to vote. The question is: in what country? Electoral preparations are moving forward while armed groups continue to impose their rule over part of the territory.

The ballot paper against the guns
The problem is not confined to protecting polling stations on election day. An election begins much earlier. People must be able to register, travel, hold meetings, campaign, distribute leaflets, listen to candidates, challenge the government and reach a polling station without asking permission from an armed group.

Ten years without elections
Time is working against the transition. Every additional month without an election prolongs a government whose mandate does not derive from universal suffrage. Elections are presented precisely as the route back to constitutional order.

An election is more than polling day
The presence of gangs makes one simple democratic principle especially fragile: everyone must be able to lose an election.

Ten years without elections

Time is working against the transition. Every additional month without an election prolongs a government whose mandate does not derive from universal suffrage. Elections are presented precisely as the route back to constitutional order.

But a date written into a calendar is not enough to make an election democratic. The original timetable envisaged a first presidential and legislative round on 30 August 2026. It had to be abandoned. Voter registration, due to begin in April, started only in July. A revised timetable now sets the first round for 13 December 2026, with a second round scheduled for 21 February 2027.

The delay can be read in two ways. It demonstrates the material impossibility of respecting a timetable drawn up in a country where conditions change rapidly. It also reminds us that a transition can end up becoming permanently provisional. Both concerns are legitimate.

An election is more than polling day

The presence of gangs makes one simple democratic principle especially fragile: everyone must be able to lose an election.

A credible poll requires that the government can be defeated, the opposition can campaign and voters can cast their ballots without fearing the consequences of their choice. Results must also be collected, transported, counted and challenged under established procedures.

In territories under armed influence, political freedom itself is at stake. A group able to control a road, neighbourhood or municipality can affect the movement of candidates, journalists, observers and voters without ever touching a ballot paper. Elections can then give a national appearance to profoundly unequal participation.

Can elections be postponed without postponing democracy?

History offers no single answer. In 1864, the United States held a presidential election while the Civil War was still under way. Abraham Lincoln was re-elected against George McClellan, and arrangements enabled soldiers to vote away from home.

The United Kingdom made a different choice during the Second World War. General elections that would normally have taken place were postponed and Parliament’s term was extended. British voters did not return to the polls until 1945.

These precedents provide no recipe for Haiti. Their main value is to dispel an overly simple idea: postponing an election does not automatically abolish democracy, just as holding one is not enough to guarantee it.

Everything depends on what happens during the wait. A limited postponement based on known rules, intended to make citizen participation possible and accompanied by a timetable open to scrutiny does not mean the same thing as repeated postponements decided by those already exercising power.

Haiti must regain elected leaders. That is a necessity. Haitians must also be able to elect them. That is an urgency. No date, by itself, can resolve the tension between the two.