Poll bodies welcome rejection of decrees on electoral reforms

KABUL’s decision to reject presidential decrees that sought amendments to the electoral law and regime and called for committees created under legislative decrees to be dissolved.

Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) chief Abdul Sattar Saadat said committees created in compliance with presidential decrees should immediately stop functioning because the decrees had been rejected by parliament and their existence was illegal.

He said earlier it was propagated that people did not want the incumbent electoral bodies to work, but the rejection of presidential decrees by public representatives exposed the fact. He thanked the lower house for acting in line with the laws.

Saadat acknowledged the previous elections had problems and that the two teams had been involved in disturbing the democratic exercise and claimed the proposed electoral reforms were meant to remove the incumbent commissioners on the two electoral bodies.

About electoral reforms, the IECC chief said every stakeholder should remain neutral during elections, including security organs. He said candidates should refer to the authority concerned about their complaints and avoid rigging.

He linked transparent and successful elections to distribution of computarised identity cards, voter lists and maintenance of law and order.

Earlier in the day, Independent Election Commission (IEC) chief Yousuf Nuristani said the schedule for parliamentary and district council elections would be announced next week and no foreign or local organization would be allowed to interfere in the county’s electoral process.

He said since one and a half years, the election system had been politicised and thanked the Wolesi Jirga for bringing back to their original place the affairs of elections by canceling presidential decrees.

nh/ma