MIAMI — As a Haiti investigative judge demanded that two parliamentarians be held accountable in the recent assassination of a police officer, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday called on the country's political leaders to redouble efforts to break a 16-month political impasse preventing the staging of long-overdue elections.
"If elections are not held in 2013, it will become ever more difficult for the international community to accept excuses and delays," Ambassador Guillermo E. Rishchynski of Canada said. "These overdue elections must be held in 2013 and as soon as possible."
Earlier this week, Haiti's National Palace noted that parliament had finally sent the names of three of its members to sit on a nine-member electoral council that will be tasked with holding elections for mayors and 10 of 30 senate seats. But ongoing political friction, disagreements and concerns about who will ultimately sit on the powerful council risk delaying the balloting further.