KABUL - The suggestions floated by the Election Reform Commission (ERC) were incomplete and the government might not be able to implement them, the head of an election watchdog said on Sunday.

Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) chief Mohammad Yousef Rashid feared the execution of the ERC draft, which had been approved by the president, would create more trouble.

The major proposals include registration of voters, making the election bodies accountable and the presence of two foreigners on the Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC).

Also, the panel has suggested the reservation of one Wolesi Jirga (lower house) seat for the Hindu minority and identification and shrinking of constituencies.

Other proposals are the distribution of computerised identity cards, 25 percent representation for women on provincial and district councils and invalidity of the current voter cards.

The ERC has also proposed the number of Independent Election Commission (IEC) members be reduced from the current nine to seven and the IECC from seven to five.

President Ashraf Ghani has already decreed seven suggestions of the ERC and called for urgent measures to provide legal cover to the proposals.

Following month-long discussions with different segments of society, the reform panel submitted its first set of suggestions last week to the president.

In his decree, Ghani praised the performance of the panel and approved its suggestions for short-term reforms.

A member of the panel, wishing to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News the three suggestions (first, second and eighth) that the president did not include in his decree were related to changes to the system, making some constituencies smaller and formation of a transparency panel.

He added the president had directed the reform panel to present the technical and practical details of these suggestions to the government during the remaining four and a half months term of the Wolesi Jirga. After the Wolesi Jirga’s recess, he believed, the president could issue another decree. (Pajhwok)