The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mr. Kubis called on the Government for appointment of a widely-respected person for the position of Independent Election Commission chief. In a press conference on Wednesday, he addressed some important issues regarding the upcoming presidential elections of 2014.

Quoting the UN Secretary’s speech at the Security Council meeting, he said, “The Secretary-General welcomed President Karzai’s emphasis on adopting electoral legislation. He also stressed the need to reach an agreement on an impartial, credible and independent electoral dispute mechanism. He marked this as a very critical, essential element of the future electoral architecture. Another core element he mentioned was the appointment of a respected, widely-accepted chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Mr. Kubis further added that the UN hopes that the appointment process will be based on broad consultations, engaging all the necessary stakeholders in this process, who will be broadly accepted as a credible head, who would strengthen the independence and credibility of the IEC.

The Government needs to pay heed to the calls of international community regarding the necessary steps for free, fair and transparent elections to ensure smooth transfer of power in 2014. So far, the Karzai Administration has not taken any encouraging steps, rather it has taken controversial ones such as the dismissal of Electoral Complaints Commission. 

The UNAMA Chief said it is sustainability, inclusiveness, transparency, fairness of the election that is vital. It is the need to create a robust electoral architecture, to finalize the process of preparing the necessary legislature. There are two drafts before the Parliament and it should be finalized – and finalized in a way that will create better conditions for the election, according to the commitments and wishes of Afghanistan, as expressed in different international conferences.

He further added that the elections complaints adjudicating mechanism should be truly independent, it should be credible. “It is for the Afghans to decide, and as we would like to see a firm, legal framework established to guide the election, we hope that this mechanism will, indeed, be a part of one of the laws to be adopted by the Parliament and then signed, hopefully, by the President. We also noted that civil society and political parties have expressed their concerns with regards to the creation of special courts. And they expressed themselves more in favor of an independent elections complaint commission. But it is, again, a matter for the Afghan parties. So we hope that these signals coming from those that are stakeholders in the election will be heard and will be reflected through the discussions in the Parliament when they discuss these two laws.”