Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) on Monday, October 5, extended the deadline for candidates to register online and file their documents to October 31. The deadline had been October 9.

The council said the decision follows consultations with political actors and changes to the electoral calendar adopted by the Council of Ministers. It said the extra time should give candidates and political organizations “the time needed to complete the required formalities.”

Election day is still set for December 13. But the CEP postponed the campaign period that had been on the calendar and said new start and end dates will be announced once an updated calendar is finished. Voter registration continues.

It is the second extension in three weeks. On September 16, the council moved the deadline to October 9 at the request of political parties and said it was discussing a possible change to the electoral decree with the government.

As of September 21, the CEP had counted seven registered presidential candidates, 162 candidates for the Senate and 419 for the Chamber of Deputies, and 628,755 voters on the electoral roll.

The repeated changes are drawing criticism. The news site Rezo Nòdwès noted that the electoral decree issued on June 2 was already amended in July and is now being revised again. Haiti has not held a national election since 2016.