Haiti Announces New Transitional Electoral Council

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s transitional government has officially announced the creation of a new Transitional Electoral Council (CEP, its French acronym) to organize a referendum in spring 2025 and general elections in the crisis-stricken country by Feb. 7, 2026. The decision to create the CEP was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.

As anticipated by Edgard Gardy Leblanc Fils, President of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), the new CEP was approved by a decree published on September 18, with seven members instead of nine, as established in the Constitution and other related legal provisions. The CPT continues to expect the human rights and women’s rights sectors to nominate their representatives.

The member organizations of these two groups, which are among the entities involved in the selection of members of the electoral institution, have not yet agreed to send their proposals for approval by the Presidential Council, even though the deadline set for them by the decree of May 23, 2024 expired on August 26.

“Haitian society is disjointed,” Leblanc said. “This makes it impossible to reach a consensus among the actors and explains the delay in appointing an electoral council with all nine members.”

According to the CPT president, the CEP must be fully operational as soon as possible to handle the crucial tasks of restoring democracy to the country by establishing a mechanism through which Haitians can fairly elect their leaders. Leblanc hopes that other sectors will eventually put aside their differences to compromise on who will represent them in the transitional electoral institution.

In the human rights sector, Gédéon Jean was elected. However, the CPT rejected his nomination due to opposition from one of the main activist groups, the Platform of Haitian Organizations for the Defense of Human Rights (POHDH). The situation is more complicated among women’s rights organizations, which have nominated two representatives.

As sector actors were unable to reach an agreement, Inter-Women Dialogue (DIFE) and Kay Fanm—Creole for Women’s Home, together with partner associations, organised two exclusive selection processes, both of which were deemed contentious.

Composition of CEP

Currently, the CEP is made up of the following seven people (in no particular order):

• Schnaida Adély, representing the Vodou communities.
• Patrick Saint-Hilaire, representing the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Haiti.
• Peterson Pierre-Louis from the Reformed sects sector.
• Marie Florence Mathieu, representing the University Council of Haiti.
• Jacques Desrosiers, representative of journalists’ associations.
• Jaccéus Joseph of the peasant associations.
• Nimrod Sanon, trade union representative.

“Haitian society is fragmented. This makes it impossible to reach a consensus among the actors and explains the delay in appointing an electoral council with all nine members.”

Edgar Gardy Leblanc Fils, Chairman of the Transitional Presidential Council

Officials have not yet announced a date for the installation of the new CEP. They did not say whether they were waiting for the addition of two missing members before the institution could be installed.

Meanwhile, the presidential council breathed a sigh of relief after this first step. The road to elections in Haiti has always been bumpy and long, with a complex socio-political landscape in which many factions vie for control of the process. This time, things could be even more complicated in a climate of uncertainty fueled by gangs that control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area, displacing nearly 600,000 people.

Indeed, the way the electoral institution was set up highlights the difficulties of holding elections, something Haitians have not experienced since 2016.

The need for certainty and trust

The appointment of a reduced CEP has already provoked some negative reactions from various groups and individuals in Haitian civil society. Gardy Maisonneuve, executive director of the human rights organization Sant Karl Lévêque, believes that by sidelining the two appointed representatives and appointing a seven-member CEP, the transitional government has not started the process in a way that inspires confidence.

“If they do it that way, it means that the elections they hold can choose winners and losers,” Maisonneuve told The Haitian Times. “Someone who can win, someone else can win.

This already raises great doubts. It is an open fight, especially in the human rights sector,” he added.

The human rights activist argued: “A right start means a 50% chance of success, but a wrong start will produce the same results as in the past.”

According to a May 23 decree and an April 3 political consensus, political party representatives should not be involved in the selection process. The most active political leaders have not yet responded publicly and have not responded to several requests for comment from The Haitian Times.

Reginald Dumé, one of the Petrochallengers, a group calling for accountability for those who mismanage Petrocaribe funds, shared Maisonneuve’s opinion on appointing a new CEP. However, he said it was a good initiative. Dumé noted that creating a CEP with missing members was not a good start.

“There is already an obstacle in the way of the Transitional Electoral Council,” the activist said. “If there is a problem from the beginning, won’t there be many other problems in the coming days, especially due to uncertainty and the fight for personal interests,” Dumé asked.

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