Stressing the need for a non-political reformation in the electoral bodies, the election advocacy groups claim the National Unity Government (NUG) leaders are divided on the reforms to be made in the election system.
In a joint press conference on Sunday in Kabul, officials of the Free and Fair Election Foundation (FEFA) and Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) warned that holding the parliamentary election with the same structure and methods of the presidential election would be an oppression of the people who cast votes irrespective of security threats.
They called on the NUG leaders to fulfill their campaign promises to establish a special election reform commission; however they stressed the presence of the current election officials in this commission was unacceptable to them.
"The government needs to begin bringing reforms as soon as possible," said Naeem Asghari, program manager of FEFA. "This is a technical process that must not be politicized."
In addition, they demanded the government to finalize the date of the parliamentary elections, which they believe would likely threaten the country's stability if held with the same foundation of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) whose officials were accused of massive fraud in last year's presidential election.
"Holding of the parliamentary election with the same system is the oppression of people," TEFA head Mohammad Naeem Ayubzada said, criticizing the government for delaying the reform process.
One of the points agreed by President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah to form the NUG was to bring broad reforms in the election law and system.
Almost four months have passed since the formation of the NUG and the government has yet to establish the special electoral reform commission in order to avoid further crises in future elections.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/3304