Election observers and political commentators have warned the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) and the government against decreasing the number of electoral constituencies ahead of the October elections, saying such a move will have negative consequences on the credibility and legitimacy of the upcoming elections in the country.
 
Some circles within government are making attempts to impose the plan on the IEC to reduce the number of electoral constituencies or dividing the provinces into several electoral constituencies, officials from the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) said on Sunday.
 
TEFA officials also criticized the IEC over their failure to form a media commission.
 
Meanwhile a number of political analysts have said that any attempt by government to interfere in the elections could further expand mistrust among the public about the election process.
 
Based on the election law, the government should have announced its decision 180 days before the elections on whether to hold the elections with a constituency-based method or the previous method. But election observers and monitoring groups have accused government of making deliberate attempts to impose its plan on the election commission.
 
“Information which has been received by TEFA indicates that certain circles in government are trying to impose the plan to downsize the electoral constituencies, this policy is in violation of the law and it is not practical,” said TEFA member Sughra Saadat.
 
TEFA also criticized the IEC for not organizing the exams for appointments in its key departments.
 
“The issue of delaying the appointment of the head of the IEC secretariat and provincial authorities is still in place, circles from outside the government are trying to appoint their desirable candidates in these positions,” said TEFA chief Naeem Ayoubzada.
 
But, President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesman Shahhussain Murtazawi has rejected allegations of interference by the government in the elections.
 
“The meetings which are held at ARG (Presidential Palace) in the presence of members of the independent election commission, all are there in attendance including observer groups, ambassadors of the donor countries and all decisions are made in consensus with all present, the government is not involved in any kind of interference in the process,” said Murtazawi.
 
“Election environment in the country is very sensitive, all people and international institutions are seriously overseeing the process, then they should allow the commission to undertake its jobs based on the law and away from any kind of interference,” said political analyst Abdul Rashid Jan.
 
“This is not elections, but a selection, there is no need to spend people’s money for these dramatic elections,” said senator Farhad Sakhi.