More than 300 parties register for Haiti elections, but Martelly's PHTK is absent

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Mar 14, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

More than 300 political parties and groupings have registered for Haiti’s upcoming elections after a last-minute rush to beat a Thursday registration deadline.

A source with Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council confirmed that 320 political parties and platforms registered to participate in the first general elections in 10 years, scheduled for later this summer. But among the major political forces missing from the list that plans to pose candidates for president, parliament and municipal posts is the party of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, and the late president Jovenel Moïse.

The Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale, also known as PHTK, did not register to field candidates, party president Liné Balthazar confirmed to the Miami Herald. It is one of two well-known political forces absent from the list. The other is Vérité, the political platform founded by former president René Préval before his death in 2017.

PHTK brought both Martelly and his hand-picked successor Moïse to power. The party was also among the groups that recently signed a political pact with interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils‑Aimé committing to the holding of elections. Its leadership also took part in negotiations with the prime minister over the formation of his new 18-member Cabinet as he assumed leadership of Haiti’s third transitional government since Moïse’s killing.

PHTK’s absence from the registration list has not gone unnoticed.

“People will learn why in the future,” Balthazar said.

The brand has taken a significant reputational hit in recent years. The United States imposed sanctions on several Haitian political figures and business elites, some of whom had ties to the party. Still, few believe the party’s supporters won’t run, especially since the current law allows most individuals to be candidates, including those who have been sanctioned but not convicted in a Haitian court.

Just last month, Haiti was abuzz with rumors about the possible return of Martelly as a presidential candidate in the election, which still faces security, financial and logistical hurdles as armed groups continue to control neighborhoods where 60% of the electorate reside while over 1.4 million Haitians remain internally displaced.

Meanwhile, election officials estimate they will need $240 million to organize the vote. Haiti’s government has said it can cover half.

A final list of approved parties is expected to be published on March 26 by the electoral council, which has stressed the need for political parties to be recognized by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Haiti. According to the electoral calendar, voter registration is expected to begin on April 1, the same day the first contingents of soldiers are supposed to arrive in Port-au-Prince as part of the U.S.-backed Gang Suppression Force.

Jacques Desrosiers, the president of the electoral council, also announced this week that a team is working to allow Haitians living abroad to vote, and council members are expected to travel to several countries this month to identify locations where ballots can be cast. While both he and Fils‑Aimé have touted efforts to make elections possible this year, concerns about trouble ahead are already emerging.

On Friday, political leader and attorney André Michel, in an interview on Port-au-Prince based Magik 9, accused some “privileged” parties close to Fils‑Aimé of seeking to replace six of the nine members of the Provisional Electoral Council in order to influence the vote.

“There are people today who want to break up the electoral council,” he said, warning that such a move would create confusion and suspicion over the electoral process and prolong the transition. “Elections have to take place as quickly as possible, and we all have to go to the ballot box together. That is the project.”

Michel said while his group is a signatory on the prime minister’s political pact, they hold no posts in the government. The same, he said, cannot be said for supporters of Martelly. “The only concern I have is the enormous influence that president Martelly holds in this government,” Michel said.

Another political force that did not register is Vérité. An electoral platform, the group consisted of five different parties and once counted 18 members of the Lower House and three senators among its membership, making it the second-most powerful bloc in the Haitian Parliament after PHTK. Fils-Aimé himself twice unsuccessfully ran for the Senate under the Vérité banner to represent the West region that includes Port-au-Prince.

Following Préval’s sudden death, the platform and its other leaders have been embroiled in a legal battle over who controls the movement and its name. The ongoing dispute has effectively left the party without legal standing.