KABUL – Wolesi Jirga (WJ) or Lower House of the Parliament on Wednesday assigned its Legal and Judicial Commission to draft amendments to Afghanistan's election laws, including one that would limit the term limits of members of the election management bodies.

The Lower House also decided to refer the names of the chairman of the electoral commissions to the Attorney General after they were summoned to Parliament on Wednesday but failed to appear. Instead, the deputies and some other lower level officials were present.

But the legislators did not allow them to speak on behalf of their superiors.

"We ask the special Legal and Judicial Commission to consider necessary reforms to the job descriptions and authorities of members of the two commissions based on their legal responsibility," House Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said on Wednesday.

The lawmakers repeated criticisms voiced in the Senate earlier this week, highlighting the lack of consequences that have been brought to the election authorities after this year's troubled election process, just before announcing plans to seek out reform to the election laws and legal action against certain election officials.

A number of MPs accused election commission officials of incompetence, negligence and corruption. "All are aware that there was treason in the elections by the electoral bodies," Parwan MP Sediq Ahmad Osmani said.

"Implementation of necessary reforms in electoral management bodies is a fundamental condition," MP Ghulam Hussain Naseri added.

Some called on President Ashraf Ghani to speak out about electoral reform. "The president must not remain silent and bring reforms according to his commitments," MP Neelofar Ibrahimi said.

However, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who accused the election commission of orchestrating fraud in favor of Ghani back during the election, is likely to be the biggest ally of electoral reform and repurcussions for the officials who failed to do their jobs properly during this year's process. (Toloenws)