Iceland's Supreme Court has invalidated elections that selected members of a panel that will help draft a new constitution, ruling Tuesday that technical issues flawed the vote.

The November election was an unusual exercise in direct democracy that was born out of the outrage that followed the nation's 2008 economic meltdown.

But the court ruled that a series of problems _ such as using nontraditional ballot boxes _ made the vote problematic.

Iceland has long planned to revamp its constitution. But the initiative to have ordinary people take part in rewriting the charter was prompted by discontent with the corruption-tainted government that presided over the economic downturn.

The decision threw the plans for the assembly into chaos, and it was not immediately clear whether Iceland's Parliament would select the representatives, or whether a new election would be held.