The constitutional ratification: the other vote on 13 December

On 13 December 2026 you will not be handed one ballot. You will be handed several, and one of them will carry no candidate at all. It carries a single question about the Constitution and two boxes. This guide is about that ballot: what the decree says it looks like, how it is counted, what your answer would change, and the one thing the decree deliberately does not tell you.

In short

Alongside the presidential and legislative ballots, every voter receives a separate ballot for the popular ratification of the proposed constitutional changes (decree, art. 236). It carries one question and two boxes, a green “Oui / Wi” and a white “Non” (art. 220.1). It is settled in one round, on the same day as the first round, with no runoff (art. 73.1). The proposed changes must be published in Le Moniteur at least 90 days before the vote, which is 14 September 2026 for this cycle (art. 194), and the Executive must explain their content publicly (art. 195). The ratification is counted and published separately from the races, and the answer decides how long the people elected the very same day will serve (arts. 382 and 383).

What you will actually be handed

The sequence at the table is set out in art. 236. The president of the voting bureau passes your national ID card to the vice-president, who hands you one ballot for the popular ratification and one ballot for each elective post being contested that day. The article is explicit that you are entitled to one of each and cannot be issued another.

Art. 220.1 fixes exactly what the ratification ballot looks like. It is headed “RÉPUBLIQUE D'HAÏTI : PROPOSITION DE CHANGEMENTS DANS LA CONSTITUTION” and it asks one question, in French and in Kreyòl: “Approuvez-vous les changements proposés dans la Constitution ? Èske w dakò ak chanjman sa yo nan Konstitisyon an ?” Below it are two boxes, and the decree even fixes their colours:

• a green box marked “Oui / Wi”;
• a white box marked “Non”.

The colours are a real help if reading is difficult for you. They are not a substitute for marking, though. The colour tells you which box is which; only your mark inside the box makes the vote (art. 237.1).

One question, one round

Art. 73.1 puts the ratification on a single-round majority vote, held during the first round of the presidential and legislative elections. That one sentence answers a question people ask a lot: no, there is no second round for the Constitution. The president, senators and deputies are elected over two rounds (art. 73), local offices in one round (art. 74), and the ratification in one round on 13 December. Whatever the country answers that day is the answer. Read: The two-round system explained

Where this vote comes from

Art. 72 names its legal parentage: the CEP organises the elections and the popular ratification in accordance with the Pacte National pour la Stabilité et l'Organisation des Élections of 21 February 2026, published in Le Moniteur, Spécial n° 7, of 23 February 2026.

Art. 75 adds the formal step that convenes you. Voters are summoned, at the CEP's request, to elect the president, the senators, the deputies and the members of the territorial collectivities, and for the popular ratification of a limited number of proposed constitutional changes, by an arrêté taken in the Council of Ministers setting the object, the places and the date.

What the decree does not tell you

It never lists the changes. Art. 75 calls them un nombre limité de changements, a limited number of changes, and stops there. The decree governs the deadline and the duty, not the content:

• Art. 194. The proposed changes to the Constitution are published in Le Moniteur at the latest ninety (90) days before the date of the vote. Counted back from 13 December 2026, that deadline is 14 September 2026.
• Art. 195. The Executive informs the population and explains the content of the document of proposed constitutional changes by every available means of communication. Explaining it is not a courtesy; it is an obligation the decree places on the government.

The government has publicly presented the broad lines of a draft. We are not going to summarise that draft here, and you should be wary of anyone who summarises it for you as though the summary were the thing. The text that governs this vote is the one published in Le Moniteur under art. 194. When it appears, read it, or read an account that quotes it and cites the article numbers. Of everything on the ballot that day, this is the question where a slogan is the worst possible substitute for the text.

How to mark it so that it counts

The rule is stated twice, which tells you how much it matters. Art. 237.1: the citizen marks the box of their choice, “Oui / Wi” or “Non”, with a distinctive and unambiguous sign; if they do, the vote is valid, and failing that, the vote is null. Art. 242.1 says the same thing from the counting side: only ballots bearing a cross or another sign showing the citizen's intention unambiguously, in the “Oui / Wi” or the “Non” box, are valid and counted.

So the discipline is the one you already know from the candidate ballots: one clean mark, inside one box, and nothing else on the paper. Two things are worth knowing on top of that.

• There is no “aucun candidat” equivalent on this ballot. That detachable box exists on the candidate ballots (art. 220); the ratification ballot has two boxes and no third option.
• Handing the ballot back unmarked does not count as a No. Under art. 237.1 it is simply null, and null ballots are tallied as null (art. 246). If you want to say no, mark the white box.

Read: Voting day, step by step

Counted separately, from the first minute

The ratification is never mixed into the races. The separation starts before the urns are even opened and is visible at every step.

• Before the count (art. 245), the unused ballots are counted and bagged separately for each elective post and for the ratification.
• During the count (art. 246), the president of the bureau counts aloud, in front of everyone present, four categories in order: the “Oui / Wi” and “Non” ballots of the ratification; the ballots cast for a candidate or a cartel; the “aucun candidat ou aucun cartel” ballots; and the null ballots.
• After the count (art. 247), those four categories are sorted into four lots and sealed into separate envelopes, with the number written on the outside.
• On paper (art. 248), the president draws up a procès-verbal for the ratification and one for each elective post. The ratification's own record states, among other figures, the number of “Oui / Wi” and “Non” ballots.
• Afterwards (art. 250.1), the original of the ratification record goes to the departmental electoral office, a copy stays with the departmental tabulation bureau, a copy goes to the communal electoral office, and a copy is posted at the voting bureau itself and photographed for electronic transmission.

That last line is the one worth remembering. The result of your own bureau is put on the wall of your own bureau. Read: How votes are counted

From there the preliminary ratification results travel from the tabulation centre to the director general and on to the president of the CEP (art. 262), and the CEP publishes them by posting them at the departmental and communal electoral offices and on its website (art. 265). The CEP's calendar places the publication of the ratification results on 16 December 2026, three days before the preliminary results of the first round. Read: The 2026–2027 electoral calendar

What a Yes or a No would change

Here is the part that surprises most people. Your answer does not only settle the constitutional question. It settles how long the people you elect on the same day will stay in office.

If the changes are ratified, art. 382 provides that the start and end dates of the mandates of everyone elected under this decree are fixed according to those changes. In other words, the new text sets the clock.

If the changes are rejected, art. 383 sends the mandates back to the Constitution, and spells out exactly what that means:

The senatorial ladder is not an accident. Every senatorial mandate has expired, so the whole chamber is being rebuilt at once, and a chamber renewed by thirds every two years cannot be rebuilt in a single election without staggering the terms deliberately. Art. 383 does that by rank of votes. Read: The senator

The rules that apply to the Yes and to the No

The decree treats campaigning for or against the ratification exactly as it treats campaigning for a candidate, and the offences chapter says so in almost every article.

• Using the outer walls of private houses, public buildings or monuments for propaganda for or against the ratification is an offence (art. 337), and so is tearing down someone else's posters (art. 338).
• Obstructing or disrupting a meeting held for or against the ratification is an offence, whether the person doing it is a supporter, a party official or an agent of the public administration, including a CEP employee (arts. 342 and 343).
• Organising or joining a public demonstration in favour of the “Oui / Wi” or the “Non”, or for candidates, on polling day and until the final results are proclaimed, is an offence (art. 346).
• Preventing or disturbing the operation of a voting centre or bureau, by force or by any other manoeuvre affecting the electoral and ratification process, carries six months to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 to 500,000 gourdes (art. 350).
• An agent of the public administration, CEP employees included, who campaigns for or against the ratification, or who lets state property or vehicles serve a campaign, faces one to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 to 500,000 gourdes (art. 354).

Read that last one twice if anyone with a state title tells you how to vote on the Constitution.

If you live abroad

The ratification is one of only two things a Haitian living abroad is provided for on this ballot. Art. 384 states that a Haitian living abroad with voter status votes on the popular ratification and to elect the President of the Republic, in the diaspora communities duly identified by the CEP. Art. 385 then leaves the places, the procedures and any disputes to an arrêté taken in the Council of Ministers on the CEP's proposal, and that order has not been published. Until it is, there is no way to take part from abroad, whatever an online form may suggest. Read: Can the diaspora vote?

What it changes in your daily life

A constitution is the least visible document in a country until the day it decides something you care about, and then it is the only document that matters. This ballot is one question long, it is settled in one round, and it will not come back for a second look in February.

Three things are worth carrying with you. Read the published text, not a summary of it, once it appears in Le Moniteur; the decree gives the government until 14 September 2026 to publish it and an obligation to explain it. Mark the box cleanly, green for yes, white for no, one mark and nothing else, because a blank ballot is null and not a No. And remember that this answer sets the calendar for everyone else on the ballot: the same piece of paper that decides the Constitution also decides whether the senator you elect serves six years, four, or two.