The United Nations special representative to Guinea-Bissau says the country's planned November presidential election may need to be delayed.

According to the U.N. News Center, Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta, who was president of East Timor before becoming the head of the U.N. peace-building office in Guinea-Bissau this year, spoke after briefing the Security Council Thursday.

Soldiers overthrew the government of Guinea-Bissau in April 2012, one of several coups weathered by the former Portuguese colony in West Africa. Presidential elections are scheduled for Nov. 24.

Horta said that due to financial and logistical reasons the poll may be delayed. He cautioned that a short delay would not create new challenges, though a more significant postponement could "destabilize the political situation, undermining the efforts we have achieved so far."