UN Security Council heading to Haiti later this month to press for urgent elections

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council is heading to Haiti later this month with a message for President Michel Martelly: It's past time to urgently organize credible elections.

Chile's U.N. Ambassador Cristian Barros Melet, the current council president, told reporters Monday that elections must take place "in order to normalize the legislative process and the presidential process."

He said that during the Jan. 23-25 visit the council will also be visiting the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which is expected to downsize.

Haiti faces an uncertain political future in upcoming months, with the terms of the Senate expiring on Jan. 12.

Martelly's administration was supposed to call elections in 2011 for a majority of Senate seats, the entire Chamber of Deputies and local offices. He blames legislators for blocking approval of an electoral law.