After months of scuffle and debate, the Lower House of Parliament has finally approved the election law and census law. The Joint Commission of the National Assembly and Senate finally came to an agreement consensus after weeks of debate.

However, there still remained many controversial articles which were later put on a vote and a consensus made with majority decision by the 14-member delegation. The changes include 20 percent of reserved seats for women on provincial, district and village councils. Earlier, the representation was proposed 25 percent by the draft approved in the National Assembly, but changes had to be made after fierce opposition from the Senate. They also rejected the reservation of a seat for the Sick and Hindu minorities and approved seven constituencies for the nomadic Kuchis instead of their previous allotment of 10 MP’s.

Now the law would be sent to President Karzai for approval on Tuesday. It’s most likely that he would approve it, since his hand-picked senators ensured his bid was strong—and as it happened, there was a consensus decision both sides agreeing on the middle of the points of contention.

The Senate is solely responsible for the long delay of election law’s approval due to which there has been controversies regarding the elections. They were bidding for President, who twice rejected the majority-approved draft from the National Assembly.

Now that the law has been approved, the President needs to finalize and implement without an instant of further delay. The presidential elections should be conducted under the law and not the Presidential decree. The Karzai Administration would probably attempt to create further delays so that the elections are held under the Presidential Legislative Decree. Such a move would not only undermine transparency of the polls, but also cause political instability and crisis.

Recently IEC Chief Manawi had said that due to the delay, now the law, even if approved soon, cannot be implemented. If the President does not approve the draft on Tuesday or within this week, it would be clear that the delay-tactic has been intentional play.

We have seen previous episodes of such fraudulent poll practices, and it would just be repeated if the same decree was used for holding the Presidential elections. There are nine months to the polling day and the IEC should be able to implement the law. The Independent Election Commission should not compromise its independence by using the Legislative Decree and hold the polls under electoral law.