PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, CMC -The Haitian-based media organisation, SOS Journalistes, is urging the authorities right here to carry a constitutional referendum forward of plans to carry elections within the French-speaking Caribbean Neighborhood (CARICOM) nation by November this 12 months.
It warns that any election held within the present local weather is “doomed to failure,” including {that a} constitutional referendum is important within the nation the place energy is anticipated to be transferred in February 2026 to a choose of the Courtroom of Cassation.
“Haitian officers and actors, from all political backgrounds, are striving to discover a political compromise to launch the electoral course of, however it’s turning into more and more clear that the authorities can’t arrange such a vote in such a brief interval, only a few months,” SOS Journalistes mentioned.
“For SOS Journalistes, the very first step, in direction of holding the constitutional referendum and essential basic elections, is to revive safety, whereas understanding the scenario will nonetheless be difficult some time longer,” it mentioned, addng “all sectors of society, together with journalists and the media, should be actively concerned to construct a important mass of stakeholders within the discussions”
SOS Journalistes said that it believes a brand new structure needs to be adopted earlier than the top of the 12 months as a prerequisite for holding credible elections by the top of 2026, in what is meant to be the ultimate section of the political transition.
The media organisation mentioned that it’s calling on the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), in addition to Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé’s authorities, the Electoral Council, and the Nationwide Dialogue Steering Committee “to focus their consideration on the holding of the Constitutional Referendum that ought to happen no later than November or December 2025”.
It was said that in January 2026, the TPC would publish the brand new structure within the official newspaper of the Republic, “Le Moniteur”, and hand over energy as scheduled on February 7, 2026.
The SOS Journalistes mentioned it additionally helps the method with the president of the Haitian Supreme Courtroom, Justice Jean Joseph Lebrun, as president to guide Haiti by way of the brand new and subsequent transition, which ought to finish on February 7, 2027, with the inauguration of the brand new president, preceded by a functioning parliament and native elected collectivities’ representatives.
“SOS Journalistes believes that it’s time for all Haitians, from completely different political and socioeconomic sectors, to return collectively and repair our issues,” it added.
Haiti has been with out an elected head of state after President Jovenel Moise was shot and killed at his non-public residence on July 7, 2021. His spouse was additionally injured in the course of the assault, and several other Colombian nationals have been arrested in reference to the killing, however haven’t been formally charged as but.
For the reason that dying of Moise, legal gangs have sought to overthrow the interim governments, and so they have all however managed the capital, forcing folks to flee their houses.
The United Nations has mentioned that the gangs are chargeable for the deaths of hundreds of individuals in Haiti.
