had introduced a regulation allowing First Nations leaders to extend their roles and duties for up to six months without an election.41 In the North Macedonia example outlined above, the decree put in place by the caretaker government on March 21 prescribes ceasing all election activities and provides that already-completed election activities will be considered valid and will not need to restart. The EMB has been mandated by the decree to produce a timeline for resumption of election activities the day after the state of emergency is over but does not have the authority to set the actual election date. In Ethiopia, general elections were scheduled for August but have been postponed based on a state of emergency.42 However, questions remain regarding the expiry of mandates, the legality of the election postponement and when and how a new election date will be set. Ethiopia is somewhat unique in that the ultimate authority on constitutional issues is the upper house of the legislature, not the courts, but the upper house can ask the Constitutional Council of Inquiry (CCI), made up of judges, lawyers and politicians and chaired by the Supreme Court president, to provide constitutional interpretation.43 The CCI has asked for amicus curiae submissions and, at the time of writing, is holding livestreamed hearings on the issues, illustrating the importance of transparency and consultation. Tweet from the president of the Supreme Court of Ethiopia seeking input from constitutional experts on the issue of the In Uruguay, there are constitutionally mandated election postponement dates for elections, with local elections due to be held on May 10, 2020, but postponed because of COVID-19. Constitutional reform was considered too difficult in the midst of the pandemic, so following consultations with political parties, the Parliament approved, almost unanimously, a law giving the Electoral Court the power to set a new election date. Recognizing the risks associated with setting this precedent, this mandate was given to the court for these elections only, and with a final deadline of October 4. The legal argument advanced for justifying these temporary powers was that the Electoral Court has final authority over elections under the Constitution.44 The Electoral Court has now scheduled these elections for September 27.45 As these examples illustrate, wherever the decision-making authority rests for election postponements, careful consultation is required to examine the issues at stake and the options on the table. If both electoral deadlines and emergency powers are provided for in the Constitution without any specific guidance on how they interact, additional constitutional interpretation may be needed by the courts or whichever body has the authority to determine constitutional questions, as is currently the situation in Ethiopia at the time of writing. Ultimately, according to international principles, any suspension of electoral and political rights during an emergency must be exceptional and temporary, and therefore wherever possible when an election is postponed, a new date should be set for the rescheduled election. A rescheduled election date will -12- International Foundation for Electoral Systems