Election is the process by which members in a given community or nation choose their leaders in democratic society, therefore such kind of an election should be free and fair to ensure that the leaders are acceptable to all members of the society therefore an election should give basic freedom to citizens in order to have full participation in the electoral process they should also have the right to vote secretly without vote buying.
In the last several elections held for presidency, parliament and provincial councils over the past decade, we have learned about range of structural flaws, logistical limitations and demographic challenges which need to be updated and improved. Our infant dysfunctional democracy has to be institutionalized. For that, we need radical reforms, and electoral process is fundamental to start with.
President Karzai’s tenure will end in May 2014, and constitution requires the polls to be held by the end of 2014. Heading towards challenging period of power transition ahead, radical electoral reforms stand vital, ascertaining administration’s impartiality to entire electoral processes beginning from election campaign, monitoring of polls to certification of results. An unbiased interim government should be set, by evolving broader consensus, having both government and oppositions, taken on board.
The electoral reforms should alleviate structural and administrative flaws in Independent Election Commission. Nomination of its chairman and members should be subjected to parliamentary approval. Parliament should also debate on other radical electoral reforms such as party laws and overhaul of Single Non-transferable Vote (SNTV). The universal issuance of computerized voter ID cards stands an indispensable requirement putting an end to probable rigging by doing away with ghost voters and fake voter lists. A mutually agreed code of conduct should be devised for all the candidates and parties should operate within the jurisdiction of that electoral code. Any candidate’s candidature to be cancelled incase if he intend to violate the prescribed code.
Formerly, President Karzai had turned-down the reforms mandating two foreigners be appointed by the United Nations to sit on the country’s five-person Electoral Complaints Commission that handles accusations of electoral fraud. It is a significant stance to bridge the trust deficit between government and opposition. Keeping prior the greater national interest, President should revisit his ruling; otherwise public’s confidence in Afghan elections and governance will continue to erode. The opposition parties have turned down judicial commission and jointly demanded for an Election Complaints Commission with UN observers reinstated.
One of the constitutional requirements the incumbent administration has failed to implement is, elections for district councils and municipalities. The district mayors should be appointed on popular vote than being subjected to preferential treatment. The election commission and impartial setup installed has to undertake massive administrative changes, to rule-out a slight chance of electoral fraud plotted.
The reforms should also involve key elements, such as ensuring the independence of Afghan electoral bodies as well as transparency in how they conduct their work, promoting an electoral legal framework that supports effective participation by political and civic groups, and developing an accurate voter registry. This review could help reduce tensions among political entities, reinforce the legitimacy of Afghan governing institutions and guarantee that the will of the Afghan people is respected in future elections.
It will take years to achieve all requirements of an improved electoral process, beginning with formation of independent democratic institutions ensuring fair transition. The international community riddled with other issues and priorities in Afghanistan should not ignore institutionalization and strengthening the foundations of a democratic system.
The legislative bodies (upper and lower houses) must accelerate to carryout amendments to laws on polls and approve the law on the structure, duties and powers of the independent election commission and the complaints body to ensure an impartial and transparent presidential vote.
The 2008 poll witnessed suspension over months, due to extensive and widespread instances of fraud in the voter registration process, with the registration rolls including "phantom voters" and multiple registration cards issued to a single registrant, amongst numerous other problems were surfaced.
It was found that in many places people were issued multiple voting cards that voting cards were often issued for children, and that stacks of voting cards were given to men who falsely claimed that they were for women in their households. Long lists of imaginary female relatives were found to have been concocted during an attempt to update the electoral roll.
There has also been evidence that people working for candidates have deliberately tried to influence the outcome of the election by offering bribes to buy large numbers of votes.
Along with bribes, cases of threats by warlords have also been reported. Other instances of coercion in the electoral process – ranging from threatening phone calls to beatings and killings – by government agents (particularly security forces and armed factions aligned with certain candidates) had been extensively documented.
The most problematic conflict of interest may be the fact that the country's Independent Elections Commission (IEC) that oversees the whole election is not "independent" in true sense.
Having seen all the ground realities it is said that fair elections must have a process which is impartial and satisfies the basic in the national standards. Free and fair elections must be open to adults and the losers are expected to accept the results. The body conducting the election exercise must be impartial, transparent and able to enforce the elector rulers especially the elector code of conduct, all parties and candidates should be treated equally without discrimination or favorer as such gives the public trust and confident. The election body should ensure that all contestants or candidate offering themselves for elections should have equal opportunity especially in use of public resources during the complains.
It’s therefore important to note that the party in power will certainly enjoy certain advantages in fields of government resources use of existing administrative structures and use of public media in this regard such advantages should be checked and remitted to try and ensure that all interested parties in the political arena enjoy the same privileges.