Afghan elections postponed due to lack of funding - Summary

Sun, 24 Jan 2010

Kabul - Afghanistan's election commission said Sunday that it had to postpone parliamentary elections from May to September 18 due to insufficient funds and security arrangements. "The decision was made after consultations with national and international stakeholders," Fazel Ahmad Manawi, a senior commissioner for Independent Election Commission (IEC) told a press conference in Kabul.

"Due to lack of budget, security uncertainties, logistical challenges ... the IEC has decided to conduct the Wolosi Jirga (lower house of parliament) elections on September 18, 2010," he said.

Manawi said lack of foreign funding was a chief reason to postpone the polls from the original May 22 date. The cost of the elections is estimated at 120 million dollars.

"The international donors pledged the money, but could not provide it on time," he said.

The Afghan government is unable to pay for the elections, and international donors have been reluctant to provide the money before being certain about the transparency of the process.

Western officials have called on the Afghan government to bring reforms needed in the electoral system in order to avoid a repeat of fraud that marred the presidential elections in August.

Nearly one-third of the votes cast in that election were found to be fraudulent, mostly in favor of President Hamid Karzai, who was re- elected after his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the planned run-off.

Abdullah accused IEC members bias in favor of the incumbent during the election. Legislators recently called on Karzai to remove IEC chief Azizullah Ludin before the parliamentary poll.

The postponement would give more time for Afghan and international communities to clean up the commission.

United Nations top envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said that new date would give additional time for IEC to carry out the necessary preparations for the elections."

"This would have been extremely difficult to do by the original date," he said in a statement. "It also provides time to make improvements to the electoral process based on lessons-learned during the Presidential and Provincial Council elections in 2009.

The US and Canadian embassies in Kabul also welcomed the announcement.

"We will continue to consult with the Afghan government as they work with ?the international community to pursue election reform for the upcoming parliamentary elections and for the long term," the US embassy said in a statement.

"We hope that the Government of Afghanistan will use the additional time available to implement positive electoral change," said a statement issued by Canadian embassy in Kabul.

Sunday's announcement came four days ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan in London, where representatives of around 50 countries are expected to chalk out a future strategy for the country.

The reintegration of former Taliban militants, transfer of more security responsibility from NATO troops to Afghan forces, enhancing good governance and social and economic development are issues to be discussed in London.

Karzai left for Turkey on Sunday, where he is scheduled to meet his Turkish and Pakistani counterparts, the presidential palace said.

The president would also visit Germany, before heading to London on Thursday, where he would co-chair the Afghanistan conference along with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305472,afghan-elections-postponed-due-to-lack-of-funding--summary.html.