KABUL - A number of individuals in the presidential palace administration are preventing the selection committee for commissioners and electoral institutions to begin to work and are seeking to delay the practical process of electoral reforms, Afghanistan transparency watchdog said.
Afghanistan watchdog warned that if the selection committee for the commissioners does not start to work in early time, the electoral reforms process will face deadlock.
“Unfortunately, a few individuals in secretary affairs are trying to build a long process that the practical reforms process does not start,” Muhammad Naeem Ayoub Zada, head of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan said.
In the meantime, electoral observers say that all of institutions have introduced their representatives to the selection committee and there is no reason for delaying the process.
They noted that by delaying the practical process of electoral reforms, the international community will no longer support the upcoming elections as well as ballot boxes will not be filled with Afghans’ voting cards.
But the Presidential Citadel was said to consider the reason for delaying the work is that the Human Rights and Civil Society representatives are not yet introduced.
Ariananews was unsuccessful to have the comments of Presidential Palace regarding the issue.
The selection committee after starting work will assess the applications of those introduced for membership of the commission, and after ending evaluation process it will introduce 21 individuals to Independent Election Commission and 15 others to Electoral Complaints Commission to the president.
Among these, 7 of them will be selected as the commissioners of IEC and 5 others as commissioners of ICC.
One of the key points of agreement between President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah in forming the National Unity Government was to reform the country’s election system.
The dismissal of old election commissioners and establishment of electoral reform commission and a selection committee to appoint new commissioners were among the key points of agreement between the two leaders. (ATN)