Haiti postpones voter registration for first election in a decade, no new dates given
Haiti's CEP electoral council said on Wednesday it was postponing a voter registration that should have begun on April 1, adding it would shortly announce new dates to register for the nation's first presidential election in a decade.
CEP President Jacques Desrosiers told Reuters the delay was due to a legal matter tied to the new government of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, and that the government must now deliver a new decree which could delay the process.
Desrosiers said if the new decree is issued on time, elections could still be held by the end of this year.
Haiti opens registration for what would be the 1st election in a decade
Haiti’s government opened a 10-day registration period Monday for political parties to run in an upcoming general election, a critical step for a country that hasn’t held one in more than a decade as deadly gang violence persists.
Heavily armed soldiers and police surrounded the headquarters of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council as a handful of political operatives for long-established parties picked up the necessary paperwork.