New IEC Chairman Will be Elected Based on Electoral Law: Presidency

The Presidential Palace (ARG) says the new Chairman of Independent Election Commission (IEC) will be elected based on Afghanistan’s Electoral Law.

“Every decision regarding the election commission is based on the electoral law, except change, termination and appointment, and the chairman will be also elected based on that law in the future,” said Dawa Khan Minapal, Deputy Spokesman for President’s Office.

However, according to the president’s decree, the new commissioner is being elected by hiring committee.

“Supreme Court, Human Rights Commission, the commission of supervision and implementation of Constitution, the two representatives of civil society and women’s rights organizations are the five members of hiring committee that receive the applications for the membership of election commissions and evaluate the circumstances of the applicants,” the decree reads.

The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), meanwhile, said that changes should be brought into the mechanism and selection procedures. “We can’t consider this method as proper and trustable method,” said Yusuf Rashid, the Executive Director of FEFA.

The appointment of new commissioner comes days after President Ghani sacked the IEC Chairman, Najibullah Ahmadzai, following a request from the IEC commissioners on November 12.