Legislative decree on electoral reforms should not be rejected, warns TEFA

The Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) has warned that if the National Assembly rejects the legislative decree on electoral law, it will lose legitimacy and national identity and will be registered as the most black records ever.

TEFA findings indicate that the National Unity Government (NUG) is trying to set the time of holding election before the 2016 Warsaw Summit.

Members of TEFA in a meeting with joint working groups of civil institutions and political parties accused the government and the national assembly of wasting the time for starting the practical process of electoral reforms.

They considered all government efforts for electoral reforms a dramatic action; citing negligence to president’s decree on electoral reforms and wasting the time for start of the electoral reform process is the biggest prosecution against Afghans.

“Parliamentarians are thinking about the rejection of the legislative decree on electoral reforms  but this action would be a dark record for them,” Qasem Ferdawsi, chairman of Hezb-e Azadi and Edalat said.

“By rejecting the president’s decree, the National Assembly will lose its national identity and the people would no longer vote for them,” Naeem Ayoub Zada, chairman of TEFA said.

However, a number of Parliament members consider the possibility of confirming the President’s decree is more than rejecting it.

“In fact, most of the representatives in parliament demands for confirming the president’s decree,” Nader Shah Bahr, member of Parliament said.

TEFA is also said to believe that the government made the electoral reform process  to its political game and its psychological tools and the government’s main focus from reforming is the change of faces.

“We demand for a practical reforms. Unfortunately, the government’s commitments are just in sayings,” Naeem Ayoub Zada added.

Previously, the Lower House of parliament has once rejected President Ashraf Ghani’s decree on amendment of the country’s electoral law.

The MPs argued that based on the constitution, they had no right to amend the country’s electoral law as the MPs’ term has ended.

The constitution specifically bars MPs from amending electoral laws while it is the last working year of the incumbent representatives.

According to Afghanistan’s constitution, the parliamentary elections should have been held in the months of May or June of this year, and the new parliament should have been inaugurated in July.