KABUL - A number of electoral monitoring organizations on Friday questioned government’s ‘silence’ over the selection of the head of the Independent Election Commission’s (IEC) secretariat, saying that the rejection of the three nominees for the position will undermine the independence of the electoral bodies.
The institutions said the delay in selecting the head of the IEC secretariat will postpone the upcoming parliamentary and district councils’ elections.
Three weeks ago, the IEC introduced Imam Mohammad Warimach, a former member of the IEC media commission; Ahmadullah Archiwal, head of public awareness department of the IEC and Popal Habib as nominees for head of the secretariat, but all were rejected by government.
“If the IEC trusts its decision and  its nominees, it should discuss the issue with government. And if there is a problem, government should make the issue clear and make a clear decision in this respect,” said Mohammad Yusuf Rasheed, executive director of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan.
“People will not expect a transparent elections in the future if the [IEC] activities continue this way,” said Tawab Danish, member of Afghanistan’s Lawyers Union.
The IEC and the Presidential Palace would not comment on the issue. However, the Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah’s spokesman Mujib Rahman Rahimi at a press conference on Thursday said they are committed to bringing reforms to the electoral process.

“The next election has two goals: people will select parliament and district councils’ members and will send their representatives to the Loya Jirga [the Grand Assembly],” Rahimi said. (Tolonews)