KABUL - The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday said it had not received a formal notice from government confirming their rejection of the three nominees for the position of IEC secretariat chief.
The IEC has done its duty, by submitting a list of candidates, but now it is up to the president and the CEO to make a decision, said an IEC commissioner on Monday.
According to IEC commissioners, the election commission has completed its work on some key programs including the certification of electoral districts and sketching out three ballot paper samples.
“We discussed our programs with civil society institutions, now we want political parties and institutions to give their comments on it so that we can share it with government,” said IEC commissioner Mazullah Dawlati.
Representatives from civil society institutions and the election commission gathered in Kabul on Monday where they held discussions on a number of programs by the IEC.
The activists also discussed a single-seat constituency, the voter list, voting cards and issues around other technical programs.
“The commission has carried out its responsibility, we sent the names to government and now it is the president and the CEO’s (responsibility) to take a decision,” said IEC commissioner Gula Jan Abdul Badi Sayyad.
Observers Concerned About Election Transparency:
Observers have meanwhile, warned that holding elections without having an exact number of eligible voters could jeopardize chances of a transparent poll.
“Electoral districts should not be small and old voting cards should not be used, if such things happen, there is no hope for transparency elections,” said Naeem Ayoubzada, chief executive of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA).
This comes a few weeks after the IEC referred three possible candidates for the secretariat position to President Ashraf Ghani and (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah. However the two leaders apparently failed to reach a consensus in this regard.
The election commission further said that security threats continue to remain a major challenge for Afghanistan’s election management bodies – especially in terms of compiling a voters roll.
“Using the old cards will increase chances for corruption and fraud and this will undermine the credibility and transparency of the next elections,” the CEO’s deputy spokesman Jawed Faisal said.
Based on the political agreement signed between Ghani and Abdullah for the establishment of the National Unity Government (NUG), the leaders pledged to implement systematic reforms in Afghanistan’s election system within two years. A process which was badly damaged following large scale fraud in the 2014 presidential elections. (Tolonews)