ACSEN demands reforms in Special Commission for Electoral Reforms

Members from Afghan Civil Society and Elections Network (ACSEN) announced that the Special Commission for fundamental electoral reforms has defects and will face deadlocks with the current structure.

ACSEN members attended a joint press conference in Kabul on Monday stating that the Special Commission tasked for electoral reforms will face with a deadlock, because the members assigned for this commission are not unbiased people, they were supporting both the President and the CEO during the 2014 disputed elections campaigns.

Jandad Spinghar Chairman of Election Watch of Afghanistan (EWA) and head of ACSEN said,” An apparent disagreement over the structure and job descriptions of the electoral reforms commission is existing between the President and the Chief Executive of Afghanistan, and there is no doubt that the commission will be able to finalize their decisions, this will face elections to a new deadlock”.

Another member of the civil society ACSEN group believes that members of the commission appointed for electoral reforms are biased and will serve for their own related-team.

“We are worried about the current structure of the commission, because it is more political than being technical and we are asking the officials to reconsider the current members once again,” Naeem Ayoubzada, Director of Transparent Election Forum of Afghanistan (TEFA) said.

Yet the commission has not started their activities, but disagreements are clear between the National Unity Government leaders over the structure, procedures and some other important issues.

Recently, President Ghani tasked a special commission of electoral reforms led by Shukria Barakzai for bringing fundamental reforms in electoral system.

In the decree, Sediqullah Tawhidi has been appointed as deputy and Ali Amiri, Abdul Qadeer Karyab, Bashir Farooq, Dr. Mohammad Amin Ahmadi, Faizullah Zaki, Kawoon Kakar, Sabrina Saqib, Gul Ahmad Madadzai, Azizullah Rafiyee, Abdul Majeed Ghanizada and UN representative Tadamichi Yamamoto have been appointed as members and Shah Sultan Akifi and Wagma Ferogh as secretaries in the commission.

Reports suggest disagreements over Ms. Barakzai assignment as the head of the commission as well.

Reported by: Ahmad Farshad Saleh