A high-level delegation from Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has traveled to Canada for a series of official working meetings focused on advancing plans to grant voting rights to Haitian citizens residing abroad, marking a key step in the country’s democratic preparations. The delegation, which includes CEP Secretary General Peterson Pierre-Louis, Treasurer Nemrod Sanon, Advisor Schnaïda Adély, and Françoise Suzan, chargé d’affaires of Haiti’s Ottawa embassy, convened first with officials from Global Affairs Canada to address critical components of Haiti’s ongoing electoral process.
These discussions form part of a broader series of consultations that the CEP has launched with nations that host large concentrations of the Haitian diaspora. The overarching goal of these consultations is to assess and establish the preconditions required to launch a pilot diaspora voting program, a reform that would expand political participation to millions of Haitians living outside the country’s borders.
During the session with Global Affairs Canada, participants centered their talks on three core priority areas. First, they reviewed plans for sustaining existing electoral cooperation between the two countries. Second, they mapped out the institutional, technical, and logistical frameworks that would be required to successfully administer polling stations for Haitian voters based in Canada. Finally, they explored collaborative mechanisms to streamline voter registration and participation for the diaspora community.
Following the meeting with Global Affairs Canada, the CEP delegation held a separate working session with representatives from Elections Canada, Canada’s independent national electoral body. During this exchange, the Haitian delegation outlined the core guiding principles the CEP has already put in place for upcoming national electoral preparations. It also drew on Canada’s decades of experience administering inclusive national elections, collecting detailed insights on three critical areas: ensuring voting accessibility for all eligible citizens, establishing robust voter verification protocols, and designing systems that protect the integrity and transparency of electoral outcomes.
Throughout the visit, the CEP reaffirmed its formal commitment to upholding the highest democratic standards throughout the entire electoral process. The body emphasized that it would advance preparations in an inclusive, impartial, transparent, and accountable manner, strictly adhering to the core principles of electoral independence and integrity. It also reaffirmed its dedication to protecting the fundamental right of all Haitian citizens, regardless of their place of residence, to participate in the country’s democratic governance.