The Election Commission (EC) has decided to amend the law to extend the deadline for submitting candidacy papers to contest the presidential election.
The Presidential Elections Act currently allows a period of 10 days to submit candidacy papers for those contesting the election. The EC has proposed to amend the law to increase the time period to 14 days.
"We have proposed an amendment to the Presidential Election Act to extend the deadline to 14 days," EC member Ismail Habeeb said.
Ismail Habeeb said the current law allows candidates to apply for candidacy from July 23 to August 3. Habeeb said he hopes the law will be changed before April. With that, there will be changes to the dates related to the presidential election, he said.
“We hope the change will come before the end of April so the rules of the presidential election can be gazetted within April at the latest before the election registration process starts on May 2,” Habeeb said.
The Election Commission has set the date for the presidential election for September 9. If a runoff is required, it will be held on September 30.
