KABUL - The Office of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has said that the CEO and President Ashraf Ghani have agreed to select a new chairperson for the Electoral Reform Commission (ERC) and that negotiations over who it should be are already well underway.

"The president and the CEO have conducted negotiations about the appointment of a new head to lead the commission and talks are still underway," Abdullah's spokesman Jawed Faisal said. "Several names have been recommended for the position, and the commission will start its work after the appointment of its new chief."

Ghani announced the establishment of the electoral reform commission last month after calls for the administration to honor its promise for reform grew from inside and outside the government. The president's decree mandated that recommendations be presented by the commission within two months. The short timeline was made so that changes could be brought to the national election law in enough time to hold the parliamentary and district council elections originally scheduled to take place over the summer.

But disagreements over the membership of the commission has stalled its reform work. Abdullah, who has been the most vocal proponent of electoral reform since he lost the runoff round of 2014's presidential race, objected to President Ghani's initial choice for chair of the commission - Shukria Barakzai.

"Members of the commission weren't obligated to start work or establish an office," explained Sediqullah Tawhidi, the deputy head of the electoral commission. "It is the government that has delayed the job of the special commission on electoral reform."

Some election monitoring groups have expressed concerns about the bargaining that has gone into the formation of the electoral reform commission, which they believe should be an apolitical body. "We believe that disagreements between the government leaders could lead to symbolic reforms in the electoral system and again we face a conflicting situation," Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) executive director Naeem Asghari said. (Tolonews)