Haiti’s presidential election pushed back to November

Haiti has pushed back the date of its presidential election to November, nearly two months after it was initially scheduled to take place to determine the successor to President Jovenel Moïse following his assassination last month.  

Agence France-Presse reported that Haiti’s provincial electoral council said the polling day, which was expected to happen in September, would include the first round of the country’s presidential election and legislative elections that have been delayed since 2019. 

The November vote will also include a constitutional referendum Moïse had supported but was postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to AFP. 

The electoral council said the country will hold the second round of presidential and legislative elections, as well as municipal and local elections, in late January. 

Haiti, which currently has no active legislature, has been plagued with political fighting and escalating violence in recent years, which have only been exacerbated by the strains put on the poorest country in the Western hemisphere amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

Tensions came to a head early last month when a group of mercenaries, believed by authorities to be Haitian American and Colombian, raided Moïse’s home before shooting and killing him. 

Haiti’s first lady, Martine Moïse, was severely injured in the attack, but survived after being transported to South Florida and treated at a hospital there. 

While officials have brought into custody people suspected to be involved in the assassination, the planning behind the attack remains clouded in mystery. 

Thus far, police say they have arrested 44 people in connection with the assassination, including 12 Haitian police officers, 18 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian descent. 

Dimitri Hérard, the head of the president’s security details, was also detained. 

Late last month, the National Police of Haiti said they were investigating whether a former Supreme Court judge in the country, Wendelle Coq-Thelot, may have played a role in the assassination. 

Coq-Thelot was one of three judges previously ousted in connection with allegations from Jovenel Moïse earlier this year that a coup was underway to overthrow and kill him.

Haiti’s government appointed Ariel Henry as the new prime minister in a ceremony last month after the president had appointed the neurosurgeon to the role just days before his assassination. 

Henry has vowed to restore order to Haiti and oversee the implementation of the country’s elections.

The U.S. last month appointed a special envoy, Ambassador Daniel Foote, to “engage with Haitian and international partners to facilitate long-term peace and stability and support efforts to hold free and fair presidential and legislative elections,” the State Department said.