The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday reacted to Chief Executive of Jamiat Islami party Atta Mohammad Noor’s warnings on upcoming elections.

Atta Mohammad Noor at Eid ceremony in Mazar–e-Sharif on Tuesday warned that they will boycott the election process and that will form an interim government if their demands for transparency of the upcoming elections have not been addressed.

His remarks came in wake of the political parties a two-week set deadline to the government for reforming the electoral system.

Changing the election system, allowing political parties to play a supervision in the election process and the usage of biometric system were among issues as the political parties insisted on its implementation within two weeks.  

Following the issue, the IEC called the political parties’ demands for reforming the electoral system as their “personnel opinion”.  The commission said that it works based on a set timetable.

“We are moving forward based on a set timetable and will continue as it is. The demands of the political parties are their personal opinion,” said Abdul Aziz Ibrahmi, the Deputy Spokesman of the IEC.

Some political commentators, meanwhile, criticized the political parties for reacting late on the issue, saying if they were demanding electoral reform, should have acted earlier.

“Currently, the time is less and imposing such reform in the electoral system is impossible,” said a political analyst Kakojan Niazi.

This comes as the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections are scheduled to be held on October 20, followed by presidential elections on April 20.