Members of Afghanistan’s Meshrano Jirga (Upper House of Parliament) and politicians on Tuesday strongly criticized the Independent Election Commission (IEC) for not having hired female staff members at polling centers and for not having launched an election awareness campaign in the country. 

Among those who blasted the IEC was former minister of interior Mohammad Omar Daudzai who said timely elections was a red line for Afghan political parties. 

This comes a day after the IEC criticized the Afghan government for not taking steps to finalize the process of hiring female staff members for polling centers. 

“We are running out of time, we call on the election commission to speed up the process of hiring females in the election process,” said one senator Anar Kali Honaryar. 

Senators also claimed the IEC has failed to build public confidence in the process.  

“No man will just allow his wife to first take a photograph and then apply for an identity card; only a short period of time remains, and there has been no awareness campaign,” said senator Gulalai Akbari. 

“The Independent Election Commission should take the necessary steps to hold elections,” the first deputy speaker of the senate Mohammad Alam Ezedyar said. 

He said the National Unity Government (NUG) was formed as a result of weak and fraudulent elections. He also said that elections were the red line for political parties. 

“If the parliamentary elections are delayed, then we will not accept more delays in holding the elections; if parliamentary elections are delayed, then we should conduct the presidential elections and the presidential elections must not be delayed under any circumstance … if the elections are not held, the credibility of the presidential elections will also end and we will face a further crisis,” he said. 

The IEC last week announced October 20 as the date for the country’s parliamentary and district council elections.

The commission also announced that it had outlined a timeline for parliamentary and district council polls but said this would be confirmed on first of Sawr (April 21).