The secretary general of the Supreme Electoral Committee (SEC) has resigned from his post just days before the second stage of the referendum on the proposed constitution.

Zaghloul Al-Belshy contacted the assistant to the minister of justice, Yahia Galal, to apologise for not being able to oversee the second stage of the referendum, according to state-owned news agency MENA.

The reason given for Al-Belshy’s resignation is that he needs emergency eye surgery.

Conflicting reports emerged on Tuesday, with state-run Al-Ahram reporting that Al-Belshy had resigned and the Ministry of Justice denying these reports. A source close to Al-Belshy claimed he had resigned due to the lack of provisions for judicial supervision for the second stage of the referendum.

Judge Mahmoud Abu Shousha, a member of the SEC denied these reports in a press conference on Tuesday evening.

Political Analyst Emad Gad was unconvinced of the reasons behind Al-Belshi’s resignation, “we are back to the same system used by the old regime, when one quits, it’s [always] for health reasons.” He added that in his view Al-Belshi’s conscience did not allow him to continue supervising the referendum.