A constitutional referendum was planned to be held in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

in May 2025, but the Electoral Council has been unable to announce a date raising doubts whether it will be held. It is the first referendum in the country since

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, and was unilaterally proposed by the administration of

Jovenel Moïse Jovenel Moïse (; ; 26 June 1968 – 7 July 2021) was a Haitian politician and Businessperson, businessman who served as President of Haiti from 2017 until Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, his assassination in 2021. Moïse assumed the preside ...

. Originally set to be held on 27 June 2021, the referendum was postponed to 26 September 2021, on the same day as the

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

and

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

elections. The referendum was again postponed to 7 November. Acting Prime Minister

Ariel Henry Ariel Henry (; born 6 November 1949) is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who served as the acting Prime Minister of Haiti, prime minister of Haiti from Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 until his r ...

later postponed it first to February 2022 and then 2023.

Background

In the absence of a Constitutional Council, a Permanent Electoral Council, and a functioning

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

there was ambiguity as to the end of President Jovenel Moïse's term of office. While he believed that his term would end on 7 February 2022, having been elected in the elections of November 2016 and taking office on 7 February 2017 for a presidential mandate of 5 years, the opposition and civil society groups — including Haiti's Conseil Supérieur du Pouvoir Judiciaire (CSPJ) and Federation of Haitian Bar associations — said the term ended on 7 February 2021. On that day, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary declared the end of the Moses' term, while the government announced that it had foiled an attempted coup. The next day, the opposition announced that it would appoint Judge Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis as interim president for a two-year transition period, alongside the drafting of a new constitution during a period of a national conference.

Proposed changes

The referendum would bring a number of proposed changes to the constitution of Haiti, including: * Abolition of the

and creation of a unicameral legislature * Abolition of the post of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

(thereby changing from a

semi-presidential system A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliament ...

to a full

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

of government) ** Creation of an office of

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

to replace the Prime Minister * Modification of the electoral system for presidential elections, changing from a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

to one held in one round under

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

* Moving regular legislative elections to coincide with presidential elections every five years * Modification of the presidential term limit, allowing two consecutive five-year terms (removing the requirement for a five-year interval before being eligible to serve again for a final term). Additionally, the incumbent will be prohibited from running in the next presidential election following the adoption of the new constitution * Allowing Haitian citizens with dual nationality to run for, or serve in, high office, including president (local and deputy elections included, provided habitual residence is proven), as well as allocating Haitians abroad no less than 5% of legislative seats *Mandatory military and/or civic service for those turning 18 years of age *Constitutional amendments need approval in the legislature and then in a referendum, rather than in two votes in the legislature before and after general elections

Postponement

On 7 June 2021 the government announced that it would be postponing the referendum, stating the COVID-19 pandemic in Haiti and difficulties the electoral council faced in recruiting and training electoral staff as reasons. The government announced the new date of 26 September 2021 for the referendum. After the

assassination of Jovenel Moïse Jovenel Moïse, the 43rd president of Haiti, was assassinated on 7 July 2021 at 1:00 am EDT (UTC−04:00) at his residence in Port-au-Prince. A group of 28 foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, are alleged to be responsible for the ki ...

and a major earthquake, the

Provisional Electoral Council The Provisional Electoral Council ( French: ''Conseil Électoral Provisoire'', , CEP; Haitian Creole: ''Konsèy Elektoral Pwovizwa'') is the electoral commission of Haiti. The CEP is responsible for presidential elections and parliamentary electi ...

delayed the referendum to 7 November 2021. The acting Prime Minister

however later dissolved the electoral council and stated on 29 September that he planned to hold the referendum next February. In June 2022, Henry announced the holding of elections "as soon as possible" once the security situation had been restored. On 21 December 2022, he announced the signing of a new political agreement that provided for the holding of new elections and the referendum in 2023 and the investiture of the new president on 7 February 2024, among others.

References

{{Haitian elections

Constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Constitutional referendums in Haiti May 2025 in North America