Haiti Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aim茅 says a planned general election for August will almost certainly be postponed because of the continuing gang violence overwhelming the troubled Caribbean nation.
"It is clear that the security conditions are not met at the level for us to have elections in August," Fils-Aim茅 said in an interview broadcast Monday on Magik9 radio in Haiti and by Reuters.
"I would like 鈦爁or elections to happen by the end of the year," said Fils-Aim茅, who said he did expect the country to have a new president in place by early February 2027.
Haiti鈥檚 government a general election in late August and a runoff by early December.
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A record of at least 280 political parties had registered by a March deadline to participate in Haiti鈥檚 first general election in a decade. Gang violence has only worsened since in July 2021 at his private residence. He was the last president to be elected in 2016.
"We are not going to hand an encyclopedia to the population to choose from," Fils-Aime said. "Choice is a good thing but too much choice is not necessarily what is needed. I 鈦爓ould love for us to have elections with 10 to 15 presidential candidates."
Gang violence has displaced a record 1.4 million people in a country of nearly 12 million inhabitants, with armed men controlling an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and in the country鈥檚 central region.
The violence also has forced thousands of businesses and hundreds of schools to close.
More than 5,900 people were reported killed last year and more than 2,700 injured, according to U.N. statistics.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
