Afghanistan’s parliamentary election schedule has been repeatedly pushed back due to security fears and logistical difficulties. But just this Sunday Afghan’s election authorities have set October 20 as the tentative date for the long-awaited legislative and district council elections. Chief of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), Abdul Badi Sayad stated on Sunday that the commission was confident the vote could go ahead although there were still some serious challenges left to be solved in areas controlled mostly by the Taliban.
Mr Sayad said, “Afghan security forces have assured us they will carry out operations in insecure areas not in government control and to ensure security for people in the voter registration and voting stages of the election.” He also added in his comments at a news conference that eligible voters would be able to apply for registration cards in mid-April, before candidates formally make their bid for the council elections.
President Ashraf Ghani has also vowed to hold the elections for the 249 seats in the National Assembly before the presidential vote scheduled for next year. But the polls have been repeatedly pushed back to due to security issues, or insecurity thereof, let alone logistical shortcomings. The UN envoy to Afghanistan welcomed the commissioner’s announcement, calling for the inclusion of all Afghans in the election process.
Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Mr Tadamichi Tamamoto also stated, “Setting a firm date for elections is a notably positive and important development in the work of the IEC and will allow progress from the formal planning stages to implementation.”
Transparent and inclusive elections are an essential component of Afghan manifesting the vitality of the democratic political process taking root, he said in a statement. The Western-backed government in Kabul has been struggling to fend off the Taliban and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO ground forces dispatched in the region in 2014.
In October 2017, insurgents controlled or influenced nearly half of all Afghan districts, according to the US government’s office of the Special Inspector-General for Afghan Reconstruction in January the same year. It remained unclear how polling would be held in the politically contested areas and whether Afghans lacking identity cards and those displaced by conflict would be eligible to vote at all. But with President Ghani and his credibility on the line with both Afghan voters and also with his international partners who are growing increasingly impatient as time goes by.
There is still a lot of work to be done by the IEC and the Afghan leadership to conclude this election delay which has been going on for three years and still counting. But with international partners, desperate for signs of progress 17 years after the ousting of the Taliban in this region, ceaselessly exerting diplomatic pressure on the Kabul government, Afghanistan just might seize this opportune political climate to ensure the success of the long-postponed elections.
By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
