April 27 – Haiti’s transition council on Saturday said it will vote for the country’s next president on Tuesday as part of efforts to bring the Caribbean country under control amid rampant gang violence.
The election will take place at the prime minister’s Villa d’Accueil office on Tuesday morning, a statement said.
The transition council took power in a ceremony on Thursday, formalizing the resignation of former Prime Minster Ariel Henry as Haiti seeks to establish security after years of gang violence wreaking chaos and misery.
The transitional government’s mandate runs until February 2026, by when there are slated to be elections, and cannot be renewed.
The council’s installation is seen as a key step toward the deployment of a multinational security mission Henry requested in 2022 and the United Nations approved more than six months ago.
Armed gangs, equipped with weapons trafficked largely from the United States, have for years tightened their grip on the capital and sought to topple Henry. Since he pledged to resign last month, they have called for a broader “revolution.”
Key ports have been closed for more than a month, but on Thursday, Florida-based non-profit Hope for Haiti said a first humanitarian flight since the capital’s airport shut down had landed in Port-au-Prince: a U.S. military plane bringing 20 pallets of rehydration solution for cholera patients.
Separately, Haiti’s national police said it received a shipment of equipment paid for by Haiti’s government and flown in by U.S. authorities.
Foreign diplomats hailed the transition council as an important step to restore security, and Kenyan President William Ruto said the nation stands “ready and willing” with its counterparts to “rapidly execute the security support infrastructure.”
“Kenya assures the Transitional Presidential Council of Haiti of its full support as it shepherds the country through this complex interregnum,” Ruto said on X.
