CAIRO — The Egyptian president's top legal adviser says the country's election commission has begun preparations for the referendum on a highly contentious draft constitution.

Mohammed Gaballah said Monday that the commission, which is composed of senior judges, began meeting a day earlier to organize the Dec. 15 referendum.

Gaballah claimed that judges will oversee the vote despite a strike by the judiciary to protest a set of decrees issued by President Mohammed Morsi that place him above judicial oversight.