Civil society wants nominees in selection body

KABUL).

A day after the appointment of nine IEC members by President Hamid Karzai, the working committee demanded its representatives be included in the selection body as soon as possible

On Sunday, the selection committee sent a list of 28 nominees in line with a new poll law. Karzai chose nine of the candidates on Monday.

The newly- appointed IEC members are Abdur Rahman Hotaki, Gulalai Achakzai, Sharifa Zurmati, Ahmad Yousaf Nuristani, Sareer Ahmad Barmak, Laila Ihrari, Qazi Suleman Hamid, Mohammad Aziz Bakhtiari and Mohammad Hussain Garziwani.

In mid-July, a joint commission of both houses of parliament approved a new election law, envisaging the creation of a committee to introduce Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) and IEC members to the president.

The committee includes parliamentary speakers, the chief justice, civil society representatives, human rights campaigners and other officials.

Due to differences, civil society groups have not yet named their representatives for the committee, which jerked into action last week.

The joint working committee has named Nader Naderi and Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan official Mohammad Naeem Ayubzada for the selection body. But their nomination was rejected because civil society was to name only one representative. 

Members of the working committee told a news conference in Kabul the Office of Administrative Affairs at the Presidential Palace had rejected their picks in a bid to engineer next year’s elections. 

Jandad Spinghar, FEFA chief and a member of the working committee, asked the president to ensure the inclusion of their nominee in the selection body before the ECC commissioners were appointed.  

His colleague Mir Ahmad Joyenda warned of protests and hunger strikes by civil society representatives if their demands were not met. “We don’t want to foment trouble, but are trying for reforms.”

mud

Visits: 0