IEC Urged to Increase Role of Political Parties in Elections

A number of political parties on Sunday urged the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to give them a broader role in upcoming parliamentary and district council elections.

Speaking at a press conference Muhaiyuddin Mehdi, a member of Jamiat-e-Islami party’s leadership council said that they have addressed the issue with the president and IEC, and that they have not receive an accurate response in this regard so far.

He warned that will suspend cooperation with the IEC, if the commission does not meet their demands.

Abdul Satar Khawasi, a member of Hezb-e-Islami party, meanwhile, questioned the IEC appointment process. He said the commission cannot act independently, and that they want to have the right of overseeing the election commission.

In addition, the political parties asked IEC to:

• Hold the upcoming elections on time (October 20, this year).
• Allow the political parties and coalitions to have their votes transferable.
• Pave way for having supervision of the political parties from the election process
• Make way for refugees, internally displaced people and those who live in insecure areas to vote in elections.

The election commission, however, said that it will pay heed to the demands of the political parties and that parties should be assured of having a transparent election in the country.  

 “IEC has prepared a comprehensive, transparent and clean list so that the public should know that how many people are eligible for the elections,” said Hafizullah Hashimi, a commissioner of IEC.

This comes as the upcoming parliamentary and district elections are set to be held in October 20 this year.