UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN Security Council called Wednesday for Haiti to make preparations for “free, fair, transparent, and credible” presidential elections in 2021.

It also stressed “the urgent need to hold free, fair, transparent, and credible legislative elections that have been overdue since October 2019”.

The elections call came in an unanimously approved statement drafted by the United States.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been in a months-long political crisis.

President Jovenel Moise maintains that his term of office runs until February 7, 2022, but others claim it ended on February 7, 2021. 

The disagreement stems from the fact that Moise was elected in a vote that was cancelled for fraud, and then re-elected a year later. 

Without a parliament, the country fell further into crisis in 2020 and Moise is governing by decree, fuelling growing mistrust of him. 

He has said that he will hold presidential and legislative elections in September. 

In its statement, the Security Council said it “urges all political stakeholders in Haiti to set aside their differences in the interest of the people of Haiti, to engage constructively to enable the organization of upcoming elections”.

It also calls for “an immediate and coordinated response” by authorities to “the deteriorating security situation in Haiti, including gang-related criminal activities, increases in kidnappings, homicides, and rape”.

Last week, the government declared a month-long state of emergency to restore state authority in gang-controlled areas.