Electoral Reforms Commission A Counselor Institution

Head of the Electoral Reforms Commission has said that they are waiting for President Ghani’s order to begin work on election laws, procedures and staffs of the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

The head and members of the electoral reforms commission have been chosen after months of bargaining between the National Unity Government. But it is still unclear when the commission should be start working.

Head of electoral reforms commission, Shah Sultan Akefi stressed that the institution duties are as follows:

1-            Reviewing election laws, functions and authorities of the Independent Electoral Complaint Commission (IECC) and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) which includes reforms in the system and submitting proposals to the leaders of NUG.

2-            Studying the structures of electoral institutions and capacity of electoral commissions and submitting proposals to the leaders of NUG.

“In technical and professional terms, the commission shall independently present adjustments and reforms and then be processed based on the constitution,” Shah Sultan Akefi, head of electoral reforms commission said.

Meanwhile, some of electoral observing institution are said to consider the electoral reforms commission inefficient. They are said to believe that most of the members of the commission are those in line with the Chief of Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah that will cause political reforms not reforms needed to be made.

President Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah, in the September 2014 agreement, agreed to electoral reforms “to ensure that future elections are credible.”

The details of these reforms, when they should take place and who should design them are, however, proving contentious.

The National Unity Government agreement is quite clear that “to ensure that future elections are fully credible, the electoral system (laws and institutions) requires fundamental changes” and “that the objective is to implement electoral reform before the 2015 parliamentary elections.”