On Mon. Jun. 6, Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced an electoral schedule for the next eight months, culminating in the inauguration of a new president on Feb. 7, 2017.

Despite opposition from Washington and former President Michel Martelly’s Haitian Bald Headed Party (PHTK), the CEP fully recognized and implemented the findings and recommendations announced on May 30 by Haiti’s Independent Commission of Electoral Evaluation and Verification (CIEVE).

According to the CEP’s calendar, presidential candidates must confirm their participation in the new elections between Jun. 8-22, and for Senate and Deputy candidates, the registration process will be from Jul. 7-16. The first round of the new elections are scheduled for Oct. 9 with a run-off on Jan. 8, 2017. The publication of the final results is scheduled for Jan. 30, 2017, a week before the swearing-in of the newly elected President.

As for disputed parliamentary elections reviewed by the CIEVE, the CEP, through a special National Electoral Complaints and Challenges Bureau (BCEN), will review 42 disputes for 39 Deputy and three Senate seats.

The CIEVE found that the elections of Aug. 9 and Oct. 25, 2015 were vast operations of planned fraud, a genuine electoral coup against the Haitian people. Therefore, not just the presidential but the parliamentary elections as well should be reheld so that the Haitian people can have their true representatives.

While presenting the electoral calendar, CEP President Léopold Berlanger announced a number of new reforms to Haiti’s electoral procedures. Voter registration will be reopened at the National Identification Office (ONI). Polling station staff and poll-watchers (mandataires) will be recruited among young people, especially students. Berlanger said that the CEP is implementing all of the CIEVE’s recommendations.

Meanwhile, under one interpretation of a Feb. 5, 2016 agreement, the 120-day term of Interim President Jocelerme Privert ends on Jun. 14. However, Privert offered another interpretation, saying: "As long as the elections are not conducted, the Feb. 5 Agreement retains all its validity."

So his mission is clear: to hold elections which were interrupted by popular mobilizations due to massive fraud. Privert also said that with or without funding from foreign nations, the elections will take place so that a new president can be installed on Feb. 7, 2017 in the National Palace.

The 2015 elections had a price tag of about $100 million. President Privert estimates the coming elections will cost about $40 million.