Electoral Reform Commission Decision to Be Announced Next Week

Fuente: 
TOLO News
Fecha de publicación: 
16 Jun 2015

President Ashraf Ghani's legal advisor Abdul Ali Mohammadi on Tuesday said that an announcement regarding the special electoral reform commission will be made next week after all stakeholder comments have been heard.

 

"Next week the special electoral reform commission will be announced," Mohammadi said.

 

However, the cultural advisor to the executive director, Sayed Fazil Aqa Sancharaki, said that there are certain circles within the presidential palace and the CEO's office that are preventing government reforms from taking place.

 

He said there are people who have brought the reform process to a standstill - people who are tarnishing Afghanistan's electoral process.

 

He said: "At the moment there are people in both teams who have ambushed (the process) and want to create a deadlock."

 

In addition, political parties, joint working groups, civil society institutions and the media have handed a comprehensive package to Ghani officials and CEO representatives regarding reform principals.

 

The key principles in the proposal are:

 

• Commencement of work by the special electoral reform commission

• National census

• Distribution of electronic ID cards

• Holding of Loya Jirga based on the Constitution

• Preparing a list of the voters

• Determine the zones of voting for parliamentary elections

• Equipping the election commissions with necessary technology

• Bringing reforms in electoral commissions structures

• Changing the voting system to help the expansion of political parties

• Immediate and short term reforms for the parliamentary elections

• Amend the election laws

 

"If the election commission has a tendency to favor candidates or fails to maintain its neutrality then a major political crisis will arise," Special Envoy for Reform and Better Governance Ahmad Zia Massoud, said.

 

In addition Ghanis consultations regarding the extension of term of the Wolesi Jirga have ended and it is said that the Supreme Court is busy with interpretations of article 83 of the Constitution.

 

"Soon parliamentary elections dates will be determined and it will be clear when the election will be held," Ghani's legal advisor Abdul Ali Mohammadi said.

 

He said that the distribution of electronic ID cards is not possible in the next six months to a year, and that alternate ways to prevent electoral fraud should be considered.

 

Gafoor Sabory

 

Source: http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/20056-electoral-reform-commission...