The Provisional National Electoral Council (CEP) announced that Haiti’s electoral campaign for the presidential and legislative elections will start on October 5, with the first round of voting set for December 13.

Political parties and other organizations have been notified through a published calendar that they will have little more than two months to reach voters before election day.

RELATED: Haiti Postpones Presidential Elections to December Over Security Concerns

Under the Electoral Decree, campaign financing is subject to strict regulation, and competing entities are required to present compelling platforms while also securing adequate funding to maintain a balanced playing field among contenders.

The decree’s Article 184 allows the maximum expenditure caps specified in Article 183 to be adjusted by a Council of Ministers order, provided that such an order is adopted and issued three months before the campaign period begins. Campaigning is a costly activity, and the decree text acknowledges that not all political structures have equal access to financial resources—a difficulty magnified by the nationwide crisis driven by armed gang attacks.

CEP members will stay in the field to remain available for consultations with political leaders, while the government has indicated that its public employees are already functioning in an electoral posture.

The sole outstanding precondition, as the decree clarifies, is the establishment of a baseline security level in areas under criminal group control, after which the country could finally move toward elections—the first national vote since 2016.

For months, the government and the Electoral Council have been at loggerheads over how the elections should be organized, with disagreements centering on the timing, the budgetary allocation for the ballots, and the final wording of the Electoral Decree.

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