The Independent Election Commission has delayed the voter registration process due to unclear reasons. As we get closer to the 2014 power transition, many election-related issues remain disputed. The deadlock on electoral complaints body is unresolved. The Government seems not to be paying much heed on demands of political parties and the international community.
The 22-party Cooperation Council of Political Parties and Coalitions of Afghanistan (CCPPCA), the alliance representing the entire political spectrum across the country except Taliban insurgents and President Karzai himself, continues to demand an independent electoral complaints commission with foreign members. The Government’s continued exclusive decisions on these issues, particularly the proposed establishment of judicial commission to replace ECC is sure to cause crisis.
The international community wants guarantees with a strong mechanism for a transparent, credible and accountable process to fund the polls. Recently UNAMA head Mr. Kubis also insisted on the issue saying elections complaints adjudicating mechanism should be truly independent and credible. He said, “We [the UN] noted that civil society and political parties have expressed their concerns with regards to the creation of special courts. And they expressed themselves more in favor of an independent elections complaint commission. We hope that these signals coming from those that are stakeholders in the election will be heard.”
Mr. Kubis called on the Government for appointment of a widely-respected person for the position of Independent Election Commission chief. In a press conference on Wednesday, he addressed some important issues regarding the presidential elections of 2014. He added that the UN hopes the appointment process will be based on broad consultations, engaging all the necessary stakeholders in this process.
But the present administration continues to reject all popular demands from the opposition, paving way for a crisis situation. Not a single demand from the long list discussed in consultation meetings earlier have been agreed upon; from the cancellation of old voter registration cards to an independent ECC.
The UNAMA Chief further said, “It is sustainability, inclusiveness, transparency, fairness of the election that is vital. It is the need to create a robust electoral architecture, to finalize the process of preparing the necessary legislature. There are two drafts before the Parliament and it should be finalized – and finalized in a way that will create better conditions for the election, according to the commitments and wishes of Afghanistan, as expressed in different international conferences. More important for the credibility of the process is robust anti-fraud measures, robust domestic observation of the election and, as appropriate, international observation of the election.” He added, “what is necessary is to find agreement between the donor community and different Afghan authorities and institutions – like the Ministry of Finance, the Independent Election Commission – on funding modalities that would take into account both the wishes of the Government to have on-budget funding, but, at the same time, will take into account the needs of the donors for very sound accountability and mechanisms that could enable the donors to be engaged and to provide financing.”
Does the Government bother transparency and accountability requirements of the international community to fund elections? The steps taken so far do not suggest so.
The Karzai Administration needs to take the domestic demands and calls from international community into account and abandon the idea of judicial tribunals for electoral disputes. The independent body of the complaints commission is better mechanism and should continue. The President continues to call it a foreign demand, while the fact is that Lower House of parliament had approved the proposal of foreign members in ECC with heavy majority. We have seen the crisis in previous parliamentary elections with the judicial tribunals. A similar episode in 2014 will not end with dictation from Palace, but will be decided on streets.
Similarly, the calls on voter registration process should also be paid attention. The opposition council has accused the government is preparing for fraud and vote rigging in polls with the plan of using old voter registration cards.
IEC Chief Manawi had earlier said the presidential election in 2014 will not be transparent if the older voter registration cards are used. The old cards of the previous voter registration can be bought at cheap prices all over the country. There were over 17 million of them, while the number of actual eligible voters for this year is about 15 million. Rigging would be unavoidable with the old lists. The fraud machinery could actually hijack the election results.
These concerns must be paid attention to with inclusive decisions. A smooth transfer of power in 2014 in Kabul through a free, fair and transparent election is the turning point for Afghanistan to continue its journey towards stability under the post-2001 setup; else the doom predictions await us.