A week after the EU and the influential Catholic Church withdrew support for the elections, it has emerged that the operations of Burundi’s elections management body could be crippled after some of its senior staff fled the country.

This comes after the Sunday summit by East African Community (EAC) leaders who successfully urged President Pierre Nkurunzinza to postpone the elections for not more than 45 days until the ongoing crisis is under control.

While the National Independent electoral commission (CENI) has welcomed the decision, it has yet to set the date when the polls will be held as its struggles to meet the quorum without two of its senior members present.

CENI’s vice chair and the director of finance and administration fled the country to the neighbouring Rwanda from where they tendered their resignation.

“Unfortunately in the context of political situation at moment, the environment is not conducive for Burundian people in organizing and following up of the elections,” CENI’s vice chair Spes Caritas Ndironkeye’s said in her letter.

CENI however says the new elections date will be communicated soon as it consults with the government.

“The [new] date will be communicated to you shortly since we are still in consultation with the Burundi government on how we could reschedule,” said Pierre Claver Ndayicariye the Chair of the National Independent electoral commission (CENI).

“Hopefully within few days we will be coming up with the new elections calendar.”

This is not the first time top Burundi officials are fleeing to neighbouring Rwanda, last month the constitutional court vice president Sylvester Nimagaritse fled the country for fear of his life in the eve of the court’s decision to approve Nkurunziza’s candidacy ahead of the polls.

Mr Nimagaritse accused the government of threatening him to try and influence the constitutional court to rule on President Nkurunziza’s favour.

CENI has also suffered major setbacks after the Catholic Church withdrew its members from the local electoral committees and when the EU suspended its elections observation mission in the country last week.

EU’s decision to suspend their mission comes after the mission chief, David Martin, called on Burundi authorities to respect freedom of assembly and demonstration, saying “Elections must be conducted in conditions that that respects competition and pluralism unfortunately these are not the conditions that are prevailing now.”

Belgium, the country’s former colonial master, and The Netherlands suspended funding for the elections two months ago, forcing the president to plead with Burundians to help raise the $28 million needed for the polls.

The Burundi independent electoral commission had been not trusted by some opposition leaders since 2010 elections after some boycotted the elections claiming that the commission lacked transparency.

The distribution of voter’s card started this week across the country in preparations for the forthcoming elections in which the electoral commission have yet to announce the new schedule.

The postponement of the elections must be a relief to the opposition leaders who have said the country was in no condition to hold peaceful and democratic elections when authorities are cracking down on protesters with force and the ruling party-leaning ‘Imbonerakure’ militia is hunting down civil society activists.

“The country is not safe for us to campaign, the ruling party CNDD-FDD had already started their campaigns some weeks back but for us we are not due to lack of security so how will the elections be free and fair if conducted,” said the main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, who has called on the EAC to deploy a standby force in the country which could help the disarmament of the youth militia.

Opposition leader Zed Feruzi was shot dead by unknown gunmen last month that raised serious concern to the opposition leaders over their own security during the electoral campaigns, “the campaigns are going on very well in country side and now we have already launched in Bujumbura, all is set to go into the polls,” said the CNDD-FDD chair Pascal Nyabenda.

Protests against President Nkurunziza’s third term are still ongoing since April 26 after the incumbent was voted by his party CNDD-FDD to be their flag bearer in the presidential race.

This week for the first time protests against the incumbent took place in his home town Ngozi as demonstrators marched that only lasted for hours before police dispersed the protests.

At least 30 people have been killed since the protests begun with more than 500 arrested, a new wave of grenade attacks have been witnessed in Bujumbura as more than a dozen have lost their live, “we have arrested some of them and investigation is underway however it is still very early to know who and why they carried out the attack,” said the police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye.