Haiti advocates reject US push for elections after Moise killing | Al Jazeera

The United States’s top diplomat has urged Haitian political leaders to work towards holding elections later this year, a demand top civil society activists in Haiti and other experts have pushed back against as “a mistake” amid deep political instability.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Haitian leaders “to bring the country together around a more inclusive, peaceful and secure vision and pave the road toward free and fair elections this year”.

The US and the United Nations have said legislative and presidential elections planned for September in the Caribbean nation should go ahead despite last week’s assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

But the killing has thrown the country, which already faced widespread political instability and surging gang violence, into further disarray – and leading civil society groups as well as rights activists say holding a vote may not be the best way out of the crisis.