Overview:
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has reshuffled its four-member executive bureau, replacing Jacques Desrosiers as president with Peterson Pierre-Louis, the council’s former secretary-general. The rotation does not alter the nine-member council itself or, by itself, the electoral calendar. But it comes at a critical stage of preparations for the Dec. 13 first round, as political groups criticize the electoral process, question the feasibility of the timeline and demand changes to aspects of the electoral framework.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has reshuffled its four-member executive bureau, replacing journalist Jacques Desrosiers as president with Peterson Pierre-Louis, the council’s former secretary-general. The change comes as the institution prepares for long-delayed elections scheduled for December and February.
The rotation, approved Tuesday, Sept. 8, does not replace any of the CEP’s nine-member councils. Instead, the councilors agreed to a new distribution of leadership positions within the bureau: Pierre-Louis as president, Jaccéus Joseph as vice president, Nemrod Sanon as secretary-general and Schnaïda Adély as treasurer.
The reshuffling does not, by itself, suspend or restart the election calendar, nor does it change the composition of the institution responsible for electoral decisions. However, Pierre-Louis and the new bureau must maintain continuity in preparations while responding to mounting criticism of the process, including disputes over party-member verification, candidate registration, security and the feasibility of the Dec. 13 first round.
The CEP’s published calendar still calls for the first round of presidential and legislative elections and a popular vote on proposed constitutional amendments on Dec. 13, with a second round and local elections scheduled for Feb. 21, 2027. Still, the council has maintained that the calendar depends on an acceptable security environment and sufficient funding.
The institution has already modified one major step in the process. At the request of political parties and groups, it extended candidate registration from Oct. 2 to Oct. 14. The revised schedule leaves online registration open through Sept. 20, with the final list of approved candidates now scheduled for Oct. 14.
A leadership change, but not a new electoral council
Pierre-Louis is not new to the CEP’s leadership. Appointed to the council in September 2024 as the representative of the Reformed Churches sector, he served as secretary-general under Desrosiers.
The reshuffling is the second change to the CEP’s executive bureau in less than a year. Desrosiers became president in October 2025 after the council elected a new bureau to replace the one led by Patrick Saint-Hilaire. At the time, the CEP said the council elected the bureau in accordance with its general regulations.
The CEP’s regulations and past practice allow its members to elect a new bureau. The council did so in October 2025, when Desrosiers became president and Pierre-Louis secretary-general.
No public evidence shows why Desrosiers was replaced this time. In recent days, unsubstantiated reports circulated online alleging that he had faced pressure from the transition government led by Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.
Desrosiers has not publicly explained the circumstances surrounding the change as of this writing, nor has he responded to The Haitian Times‘ request for comment.
While the reshuffling appears to be a routine institutional rotation under the council’s general regulations, the timing and context raise questions. The nine councilors remain in place, and the council continues to make decisions. But the new bureau may help address concerns about the credibility, administration and feasibility of the process.
New bureau, same criticism
One major dispute concerns the requirement that political parties submit lists of 30,000 members to qualify to field candidates. The requirement was not included as a separate step in the original electoral calendar and has generated complaints from political groups attempting to submit their lists through the CEP’s digital platform.
Several groups have reported cases in which members’ identification numbers allegedly appeared on lists submitted by multiple political organizations. Others have complained that the CEP rejected identification numbers that the National Identification Office (ONI) had previously validated.
The problems have prompted calls for investigations.
The National Union for Integrity and Reconciliation (UNIR), one of the parties criticizing the process, is calling for a thorough investigation into suspected fraud, irregularities, and weaknesses in the Electoral Council’s political party registration system.
“It is important to establish the facts, identify existing weaknesses, and take the necessary corrective measures to ensure the reliability of the system,” Clarence Renois, the group’s national coordinator, said in a Sept. 7 statement.
