Upcoming elections in Egypt must be "democratic and credible," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday during a visit to Norway, dpa reported.
"Egypt and Tunisia are two countries where the people were able to achieve their genuine aspiration and dreams of greater participatory democracy," Ban told reporters during a visit to the Scandinavian country for a conference on clean energy.
Ban said "the international community has a moral obligation" to ensure that the people of these countries would be able to "fully realize their dreams."
"Their autocratic leaders have left, by the power of people," he said.
The UN head said he had held talks with Egyptian leaders underlining that upcoming elections should be held in a "democratic, credible and open way."
Ban did not comment on the overnight violence in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
Earlier, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store expressed concern over the violence and said it was "important that the transition process (in Egypt) was not halted."
When asked about the Palestinian application to join the United Nations as a full member state, Ban said it was being reviewed by the UN Security Council.
"At this time, I would urge the parties involved to engage in dialogue," he said, adding this was in line with recent calls from the Quartet that comprises the United Nations, Russia, the United States, and the European Union.
Ban earlier addressed a conference hosted by Norway on "Energy for All" aimed at combining investments in clean energy to meet growing energy needs with fewer emissions.