Haiti Pushes Elections to 2027 as El Salvador Sends 2,000 Troops
The Caribbean nation delayed its first round of voting by seven months while deploying additional Salvadoran soldiers to search for four missing technicians.
By Nour Haddad ·
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council moved the first round of presidential and parliamentary elections from December 13 to July 18, 2027, on Wednesday. The decision coincided with an announcement from El Salvador that it would deploy more than 2,000 soldiers to the Caribbean island. The Salvadoran Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the deployment on the same day the electoral body finalized the new schedule.
The military expansion aims to locate four Salvadoran aviation technicians who disappeared on October 18. Armed men ambushed their vehicle in Croix-des-Bouquets, east of Port-au-Prince, while they served with an international security mission supporting Haitian police. President Nayib Bukele previously sent troops to assist in the search. On October 21, he posted on X in Haitian Creole that he would destroy Haiti’s gangs if they did not release the missing personnel.
Bukele spoke by telephone with Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime on Wednesday. Fils-Aime’s office reported that the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation on rescue efforts and security operations. It remains unclear whether the new Salvadoran contingent will join the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force or operate independently. Foreign troops have served in Haiti under UN-backed arrangements since 2024 to create safer conditions for voting.
The delay represents another setback for restoring an elected government in a country where gang violence has made voting preparations dangerous. The electoral council also set a second round of voting and local polls for October 4, 2027. It extended candidate registration deadlines and introduced online voter registration. The Miami Herald reported that fewer than 900,000 people had registered by Wednesday. This figure comes from a pool of 6.5 million Haitians holding the identification cards required for enrollment.
Gang-controlled roads make it difficult for voters to reach registration centers. Violence has also forced many residents from their homes. Haiti has held no elections since 2016. Its last president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021. Successive transitional authorities have cited insecurity as the reason for delaying a return to voting.
An international food security assessment released on Wednesday found that 5.94 million Haitians face acute hunger. This group includes 1.8 million people in emergency conditions. The report noted that violence disrupts farming and food deliveries. The number of people facing acute hunger is projected to rise to 6.35 million by mid-2027.
