There are two reasons. First, people suck. Most would rather not make a decision until they have to. Second, I’m sure there has been pressure to get the death sentence commuted for years, if not decades. Part of that is because the process is slow and part is because political elements often try to make the decision with the most political benefit. The added publicity with this looming deadline would have brought attention and the powers that be have doubtless decided that at this point the political weight is in favor of saying yes rather than no.