EC retracts court case over election delay

The Elections Commission has retracted the court case filed with the Supreme Court over delaying the local council elections.

The commission stated that the matter was retracted after the parliament pledged to find a solution to delay the election further than the period stated in the law.

The Parliamentary Committee on Independent Institutions met last night with the Elections Commission to discuss postponing the local council elections.

Committee members assured that only the parliament could find a solution for the matter and not the Supreme Court, an assertion that was supported by Elections Commission members as well.

EC president Ahmed Shareef stated that it would result in detrimental losses to the state if the election was postponed fully and stated that commission members had unanimously agreed to briefly halt the preparations made for the election and continue on with the election at a later date.

The committee has begun working on the legal remedies for postponing an election during a particular circumstance.

The election has been delayed until April 18, the extent to which the commission is legally allowed to do so. The commission had filed a case with the High Court initially to postpone the elections, before retracting the case and filing it with the Supreme Court.