Irish Farmers' Association members who wish to contest the organisation's presidency have been given five weeks to finalise their nominations.
An election has been called to replace former president Eddie Downey, who resigned last week amid controversy over salaries at the organisation.
Nevertheless, the IFA has announced that it is seeking to postpone the date of the election for several months beyond the deadline for nominations.
The rules of the Association state that an election for the position of president must take place within sixty days of a vacancy arising, and it is in keeping with those rules that the closing date for nominations has been set for Wednesday 6 January.
However, on foot of the advice of its Rules and Procedures Committee, the Executive Board of the IFA has given 28 days notice of its intention to seek a change in the rule regarding the timing of its Presidential election.
The move was expected and it was well flagged during the 17-hour Executive Council crisis meeting held at IFA headquarters last Wednesday.
The Council members were not in favour of an election being held in the middle of winter and were concerned that the timing of an IFA election would clash with that of a general election.
In addition, there was a lot of concern that an IFA election so close to the debacle over the scandal of high pay at the organisation was far from ideal.
The IFA Executive Board, which met yesterday, has now given the requisite 28 days notice of its intention to ask the Association's Executive Council to approve a change in the rule of the Association that requires an election to be held within 60 days of a presidential vacancy arising.
An IFA Council vote on the proposed change will now take place on Tuesday 5 January and a two third majority will be required to approve the rule change.
It is widely expected that the Executive Council will approve the rule change. This will give the Executive Council a free hand and enable it to decide on the timing of the presidential election by a simple majority.
In a statement, the IFA said the decision could see the election to replace Mr Downey postponed until March, April, or June.
It is not known whether a formal decision to postpone the election on 5 January will subsequently result in the closing date for nominations being extended beyond 6 January.
