The Elections Commission has informed the Parliament that it needs more time to hold a public referendum on the governance system change and that it cannot hold the vote this month.
In a letter of clarification sent to the Parliament by the EC today, it said that the Commission needs more time to make all the necessary arrangements ahead of the Public referendum including creating awareness among the public about the two systems, compiling a voter's registry, making arrangments to accept complaints about the referendum.
The letter also informed the Parliament that the Commission would give a date for the vote to the legislative house after considering the time that would take to make all these arrangements.
The Commission had before that it could hold the vote on the 29th of this month.
Speaking at the Parliament session today, Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed said that from the Commission's letter, it was evident that it cannot hold a vote on the 29th of this month.
He said that for now the date for the vote has to be decided at a later time.
The system change attempt is being pursued by the Parliament after it passed a resolution last month calling for a public referendum on the system change before the 30th of this month.
