KABUL): Soon after being sworn in, new Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) members on Thursday elected Abdul Sattar Sadat as head of the watchdog’s administrative board, Reda Azimi his deputy and Nadir Mohseni as secretary.
On Sept. 11, the selection committee recommended 15 of the 263 short-listed applicants to the president. The nominees included three females, five Pashtuns, four Tajiks, two Uzbeks, three Hazaras and one Turkmen.
Karzai appointed five of the individuals as IECC commissioners last week. Sadat, Azimi, Mohseni, Azizullah Aryafar and Paighambar Qul Doghan are members of the electoral watchdog.
The IECC members were sworn in at a ceremony, attended by Meshrano Jirga Chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, Supreme Court Judge Bahauddin Baha and other officials.
Mohseni told reporters the commission, in its maiden session in Kabul, appointed administrative board members through a secret ballot. Sadat and Aryafar ran for the top slot. Sadat, who secured four votes, was elected as the commission’s chief.
Azimi and Mohseni were elected unopposed as deputy head and secretary respectively. Sadat recalled the masses, political parties and civil society groups were not happy with the outcome of the previous elections.
“We will make our all-out efforts to ensure the elections are transparent, inclusive, free and acceptable to the people of Afghanistan,” he said after his election as IECC chief.
He promised the panel would discharge its duty with full honesty, saying the commission was autonomous and its members would act independently.
“We accept there are challenges and threats, but we will not bow to pressure,” he vowed, appealing to the masses, political and civil society groups to extend their cooperation to the IECC in ensuring transparency in the April 5 presidential and provincial council elections.
ma/mud
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