KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani's Second Vice President Mohammad Sarwar Danish Thursday reiterated the government's commitment to implementing systematic reform in the election law.
He said that the necessary arrangements had been completed to finalize the rollout of electronic national identity cards and conducting the elections.
"Electoral reform process and preparations for holding the elections and rolling out the electronic identity cards have started," said Danish.
Danish's remarks on electoral reforms come amid renewed hope among the nation but amid reservations by the Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah over the reform agenda.
Based on President Ashraf Ghani's legislative decree on the election reforms, the parliamentary elections will be conducted on a single-member constituency basis, a move which has widely been received with skepticism and doubt.
On Thursday, Abdullah's second deputy Mohammad Mohaqiq said that the single-member constituency was not the solution.
"There are disagreements over the single-member constituency system, there are a lot of people who do not accept the single-member constituency," he said.
Bringing about systematic reforms in the election law has been one of the disputed points between the government leaders.
On the basis of the legislative decree, each province will be divided into several constituencies and one candidate will be the winner from each constituency. It means that a candidate running in one constituency will not be allowed to run for the election from other constituencies in his province.
Amid the controversy, there is a perception that the ratification of two crucial laws including the draft law on electoral reforms and the much-awaited census law by Ghani was a milestone for the country.
"It is a step forward to break the electoral deadlock and an achievement for Brussels Summit," said Mohammad Naeem Ayoubzada, head of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA).
"Single-member constituency is the core issue which can bring up some brawls in the area where it is will be implemented," said Jandad Spinghar, head of Afghan election network. (Tolonews)