Former US President Jimmy Carter warned on Wednesday that democracy is under assault in the United States, saying that “our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss.”

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Carter warned that “without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy,” in a New York Times op-ed published on the eve of the January 6 insurgency’s anniversary.

“Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late,” the 97-year-old former President said.

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A year ago, the Democrat joined three other living former Presidents, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, in denouncing the violent rioters who stormed the Capitol as Congress met to certify the results of President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election. “Promoters of the lie that the election was stolen have taken over one political party and stoked distrust in our electoral systems,”  Carter wrote on Wednesday.

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Carter expressed optimism that the deadly Capitol attack would “would shock the nation into addressing the toxic polarization that threatens our democracy.”

Politicians  “have leveraged the distrust they have created to enact laws that empower partisan legislatures to intervene in election processes” and “seek to win by any means, and many Americans are being persuaded to think and act likewise, threatening to collapse the foundations of our security and democracy with breathtaking speed,” he said.

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“I now fear that what we have fought so hard to achieve globally — the right to free, fair elections, unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power — has become dangerously fragile at home,” said Carter, who founded the Carter Center, a nonprofit that monitors free elections around the world after leaving the White House.

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To ensure secure elections in the United States, the former President proposed five points: American citizens must agree on constitutional norms and respect one another despite political differences; the country should push for election reforms to ensure access to and confidence in elections; the country should resist polarisation; the country should reject political violence; and finally, disinformation must be addressed.

“For American democracy to endure, we must demand that our leaders and candidates uphold the ideals of freedom and adhere to high standards of conduct,” he said.