Haiti’s electoral council moved its first presidential and legislative vote to July 2027, while El Salvador announced a mission involving more than 2,000 soldiers as gang violence disrupts election preparations and food security.
The Provisional Electoral Council’s revised calendar shifts the first round from Dec. 13 to July 18, 2027. It also schedules runoff and local elections for Oct. 4, extends candidate-registration deadlines and provides for online voter enrollment.
El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday plans for an operation in Haiti involving more than 2,000 soldiers, with the stated aims of finding four missing Salvadoran aviation technicians and combating armed gangs. Reuters previously reported that a Haitian security official said about 1,000 Salvadoran soldiers had been sent after the technicians disappeared; earlier coverage of the roughly 1,000-troop deployment.
An attack in Croix-des-Bouquets, east of Port-au-Prince, left four Salvadoran aviation technicians missing on Oct. 18, Al Jazeera reported. They were part of a multinational security effort backing Haitian police. President Nayib Bukele and Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime spoke by phone Wednesday; Fils-Aime’s office said they agreed to strengthen coordination on rescue efforts and security.
The Miami Herald reported Wednesday that voter registration remained below 900,000, while 6.5 million Haitians possess the identification cards needed to enroll. Al Jazeera reported that road insecurity makes travel to registration sites difficult and violence has displaced residents. Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and successive transitional authorities have cited insecurity when delaying a return to voting, Al Jazeera reported.
An analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) classified 5.94 million people as facing acute hunger at IPC Phase 3 or worse from September 2026 through February 2027, including 1.8 million in Emergency. The IPC projects 6.35 million people will be at Phase 3 or worse from March through June 2027, citing insecurity, displacement, economic hardship, agricultural disruption and climate shocks. Haiti’s next first-round vote is scheduled for July 18, 2027.
