Haiti continues work on provisional electoral council amid gang violence

Haiti has continued to work on rebuilding its democracy with efforts to create a Provisional Electoral Council, which will lead to democratic elections.

By James Blears

The Provisional Electoral Council, established by the Haitian government, is still a work in progress, with seven of its nine members in place and two more to be appointed soon.

They include a journalist, human rights worker, trade unionist, farmer and member of the Vodou community. The aim and focus is to work towards holding elections in Haiti.

The last combined elections were in 2016, the most recent legislative ones were in 2019, and the most recent Presidential Election was in 2021.

In July of that year, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated by Colombian mercenaries, and Haiti has been sliding into chaos ever since.

The present and lingering question is if the street gangs, which control more than eighty percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, can be curbed.

A Kenyan police force of six hundred and some Jamaican police may struggle to resolve the overall lawlessness problem.

The gangs showed their power in February by blocking the international airport and the return of then Prime Minister Ariel Henry from a summit in Guyana.

The Transitional Presidential Council has since appointed Garry Conille as Interim Prime Minister, until elections expected to take place in 2026.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged this process along in a recent visit. The United States is donating money to fund projects, but is not supplying troops or police.

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