KABUL - The Chief Executive Office on Sunday said the schedule for parliamentary and district council elections would be announced by new commissioners and the current schedule had no justification and was unacceptable.
Javed Faisal, deputy spokesman for the Chief Executive Office, said the election date announced by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) had no justification because the government and the people of Afghanistan wanted the country’s electoral regime to be reformed before new elections.
He said the electoral system needed to be reformed and restructured before holding new elections. He said future elections would be held under new commissioners and a reformed system.
Faisal said the international community was ready to financially support elections in Afghanistan but they linked their support to transparency and electoral reforms.
He said reforms suggested by the Election Reform Commission should be implemented before holding the Wolesi Jirga and district council elections.
Last Monday, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced it had set an Oct 15 date for the long-delayed parliamentary and district council elections.
IEC Chairman Yousuf Nuristani told a news conference that the panel made all technical preparations to conduct the election process on October 15, 2016.
He promised mistakes of the 2014 presidential vote would not be repeated. The coming polls would be fully transparent, he assured, claiming the panel had learnt a lot from past experience.
The Wolesi Jirga or lower house of the parliament had already rejected a presidential decree approving suggestions of the Electoral Reform Commission (ERC).
Earlier President Ashraf Ghani had decreed seven suggestions of the ERC and called for urgent measures to provide legal cover to the proposals aimed at reforming the electoral system.
The parliamentary rejection of the presidential legislative decree has halted the selection committee from doing its work after creating a legal vacuum. (Pajhwok)