Reforms in electoral system should not be dramatic, political

A number of electoral observing institution have said that the electoral reforms commission must bring basic reforms in electoral institution of the country.

The electoral reforms commission has been formed one day before the Eid Ol-Feter and it is supposed to begin work in the near future.

President Ghani have confirmed the commission’s working plan practices besides issuing the decree for formation of the commission.

Yousuf Rashid, CEO of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) said, “Reforms should be symbolic. Reforms must be include all issues.”

In the meantime, a number of representative in Parliament emphasized that a list of votes to be determined is also important.

President Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah, in the September 2014 agreement, agreed to electoral reforms “to ensure that future elections are credible.”

The details of these reforms, when they should take place and who should design them are, however, proving contentious.

The National Unity Government agreement (full text here) is quite clear that “to ensure that future elections are fully credible, the electoral system (laws and institutions) requires fundamental changes” [emphasis added] and “that the objective is to implement electoral reform before the 2015 parliamentary elections.”

It does not however spell out what these reforms should entail, other than that the president will appoint a special commission who will report to the CEO.

The upcoming parliamentary elections are important for both camps President Ghani and CEO, Abdullah Abdullah – as well as for several groups currently ‘outside’ the government, such as former president Hamed Karzai and his circle, the self-proclaimed disgruntled mujahedin and the growing group of irate Abdullah supporters (who feel he has not been enough of a champion).

All sides will try to secure a large presence in the new parliament, so they can use its potential for pressure politics (and prevent the parliament’s power from being used against them).