The country's Attorney General (AG) has offered his legal opinion that the current presidential term would end on November 17, Elections Commission said Thursday.
In 2013, incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was sworn into office on November 17 after a marathon elections after the first round of elections was annulled by the country's top court.
Thee Supreme Court had cancelled the run-off and annulled the first round results in September 2013. A re-run of the first round was held on November 9 and the run-off was planned for the following day due to the need to have a new President in place by November 11.
However, the run-off was again postponed to November 16 by the Supreme Court after Yameen claimed he needed more time to campaign. Yameen eventually won the run-off against the now self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed and was sworn in the next day.
The commission had been divided over the end of the current presidential term as some believed that the term would end on November 11 while others remained convinced that it would end on the day president Yameen was sworn into office.
The doubts had prompted the commission to seek the advise of the Attorney General.
Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, elections chief Ahmed Shareef Adam said the AG had said the the constitution does not specify an exact date to hold the elections but only mentions that a president must be elected every five years.
Following the AG's decision, the commission has now delayed the date to open for candidate filing for the upcoming presidential elections by a week.
