San Juan, Puerto Rico — SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Members of the United Nations Security Council warned Haiti’s leaders Wednesday that they are running out of time. Restore security And holding general elections as the deadline for forming a new government approaches.
Haiti Transitional Presidential Council He is tasked with holding general elections before February 7, 2026, the date on which the nine-member council is supposed to step down.
“The transition clock is ticking,” Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, said at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday. “I am concerned that a firm path towards restoring democratic governance has not yet emerged.”
date for holding general elections, The first in nearly a decadeThis has not been announced because gang violence is sweeping the Haitian capital and beyond, but technical preparations are underway.
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council assessed voting centers in nine of the country’s ten departments, identifying some 1,309 centers for an estimated 6.2 million voters.
The council said the first round of elections would cost about $137 million. The Haitian Ministry of Justice announced late Tuesday that more than 220 political parties have begun the registration process.
But gang violence continues, with the United Nations recording 2,123 casualties from June 1 to August 31 across Haiti, and killings have also risen in Haiti’s Artibonite and Central departments.
“Haiti is truly at a crossroads,” Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said at Wednesday’s meeting. “The international community must stand with Haiti as it regains control of the country…Haiti’s political class and private sector must also do their part in supporting the democratically elected government.”
The United Kingdom representative echoed Waltz’s comment at the meeting and praised the ongoing sanctions against some Haitians, noting that it was also important that future sanctions target the economic and political supporters of powerful gangs in Haiti.
The push for elections comes about a month after the UN Security Council authorized the formation of a so-called gang suppression force that will replace a smaller UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police. Understaffing and underfunding.
Little is known about Timeline for the deployment of the new forcewhich will have a strength of 5,550 personnel, a 12-month mandate, and the power to arrest suspected gang members, something the current force lacks.
On Wednesday, Russia expressed its concern about this Involvement of foreign mercenaries in Haiti It also denounced the killing of civilians in the war against gangs.
The United Nations indicated in a recent report that drone operations resulted in the killing of 527 suspected gang members and 20 civilians, including 11 children, from March 1 to September 20. 28 other civilians were injured, including nine children.
Gangsters They control an estimated 90% of Port-au-PrinceThe ongoing violence has displaced a record 1.4 million people across Haiti.
The number of temporary shelters has increased from 142 in December to 238 so far this year, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration.
From January to June, more than 3,100 people were reported killed across Haiti and 1,100 injured, according to the United Nations.