Haiti still does not have a date for its first general elections in a decade. But the process is already mired in controversy, raising the prospect of a new electoral crisis.

On Wednesday, the country’s Provisional Electoral Council issued a document barring its executive director, Uder Antoine, from entering the premises in Pétion-Ville. The representative of the Catholic Church on the council, Patrick Saint-Hilaire, was the only one of its nine members not to sign the document.

Described as “a conservatory measure,” the move by elections officials to bar Antoine from their premises came after Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and his cabinet adopted an electoral decree on Tuesday over the council’s objections.

In the resolution, the council said it was acting because Antoine’s name had circulated in the media as the government’s choice for the council’s director general and because he had not communicated with council members during the previous 24 hours.

“As a result, Mr. Uder Antoine is interdicted from accessing the office of the CEP under any circumstances until further notice,” the note said.

Not far from the council’s offices someone lit a tire on fire, a move often employed by political parties as a sign of protest. Antoine said he learned about his being barred from the council when someone gave him a copy of the document.

“They have not heard from me for 24 hours, is that true? The people who were supposed to find me found me: I spoke to the advisors and several CEP employees during the day. I stayed home today for health reasons,” he told the Miami Herald. “I remain available to collaborate with the advisers and anyone else who respects each other to move the electoral process forward.”

Soon after, the electoral council decided to fire Antoine, circulating a document showing that his contract to serve as their executive director had been terminated.

Antoine was named to the post in April 2026, but it may not be easy getting rid of him: Also circulating on Wednesday was a copy of the government’s decree naming him to oversee the council’s activities and the yet-to-be-scheduled vote as the CEP’s director general. The controversial post does not exist in the council’s organizational chart but was employed during the 2004-2006 transition to avoid issues with the vote after then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile.

The council’s president, Jacques Desrosiers, did not respond to a call from the Herald.

Though Antoine’s appointment was officially announced, the government has yet to make public the text of the new electoral law. Both matters have been a source of simmering tensions and debates for weeks in Haiti, where political parties have been accusing Fils-Aimé of overreach and a lack of transparency.

The problems started after the council submitted its draft electoral decree in April and received no official response.

Instead, proposed changes sought by Fils-Aimé, like requiring political parties to have as many as 100,000 registered members to field presidential candidates, were leaked and debated on social media.

Sharply different accounts

The prime minister finally met with the council on Tuesday. While a statement from the prime minister’s office attempted to portray the discussions as cordial, the council painted a different account of the encounter.

In its statement, the council said the head of government presented a document that was “totally different from the draft Electoral Decree submitted to the Executive by the CEP on April 24, 2026.”

“This step confirms the unconstitutional character of the decision,” the note said. “It is important to point out that the initiative for the drafting of the Electoral Decree comes under the exclusive competence of the CEP.”

The council said members disagreed with the prime minister over the application of a text that does not comply with the constitutional requirements.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti said it views the promulgation of the new electoral decree as an important step toward holding inclusive and credible elections, pending the publication of the electoral calendar and other measures aimed at restoring democratic institutions.

The U.N. office “will continue to coordinate international support for the elections and to support the CEP as well as the Haitian authorities, in accordance with the mandate entrusted to it by the Security Council,” the post read.

Haiti, which hasn’t had an elected president since the July 7, 2021, assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse, last held general elections in 2016.

©2026 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.