Gov’t Decision to Open New Parliament Draws Criticism

According to government officials, President Ashraf Ghani is expected to inaugurate the National Assembly in the upcoming Friday.

However, electoral observers and experts criticize the decision of opening the National Assembly, saying the move will create a new crisis if the new parliament is opened before the announcement of the final result of parliamentary elections for all provinces.

They also emphasized that the cases of former electoral officials must be finalized before the inauguration of the new parliament.

“When the operators [former commissioners] are under investigation by the judicial organs, the action and decisions the operators have taken are not correct,” said Daud Ali Najafi, former Chief Secretary of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC).

“If the National Assembly is inaugurated, the electoral commissions will continue the old scenarios,” said Yousuf Rasheed, Chief Executive Officer of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA).

Nearly six months ago, Afghans cast their votes for parliamentary election candidates, but so far the IEC has announced the final results for 28 provinces.

By: Hesamuddin Hesam