Chairman of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) Abdul Badi Sayyad on Sunday said that the election management body has decided to hold the country’s presidential elections on July 20 next year.
 
Afghanistan’s presidential elections were supposed to be held on April 20.
 
“Presidential elections will be held on 20 Saratan 1398 (July 20, 2019),” said Sayyad.
 
In reaction, the Afghan government said that it welcomes the move by the IEC to hold the country’s next presidential elections at this time.
 
“There is no doubt that timely elections has been the demand of the Afghan government, but the independent election commission of Afghanistan as a sovereign institution has decided to conduct the presidential elections in the month of Saratan 1398 (July 20, 2019) and the IEC decided the new date after consultations with all stakeholders in the election process such as the political parties, possible candidates, civil society institutions and election monitoring groups, and the move comes in view of technical problems and to avoid past mistakes repeated,” the Presidential Palace ARG said in a statement.
 
“The Afghan government respects the decision made by the independent election commission and in view of the reservations expressed by the election commission, the government is ready to cooperate with the commission to hold the elections in Saratan 1398,” the statement added.
 
“The government welcomes the new presidential election calendar by the independent election commission,” said President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesman, Shahhussain Murtazawi.
 
But, a number of possible presidential candidates have said that the IEC, particularly its executive body with its present capacity, is unable to hold next year’s presidential elections.
 
Shaida Mohammad Abdali is a possible presidential candidate who says that he has not yet registered to run for president because of lack of faith on the ability of the election commission.
 
“There are concerns among the public and the candidates, this is demoralizing because they hear different rumors from the government and the commission. There is concern among the people increasing day by day,” said Abdali.
 
Meanwhile, the political parties and movements have also intensified consultations ahead of the elections.
 
“Unfortunately, these commissions do not have the power and capacity to take proper leadership and management of the presidential elections,” said Fazel Ghani Haqmal, deputy spokesman of Hizb-e-Islami.
 
As part of ongoing political activities, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hizb-e-Islami party met with leaders from Junbish-e-Milli Islami party of Afghanistan and Hizb-e-Wahdat-e-Islami party of Afghanistan where they exchanged views on the elections.
 
“Discussions were held on how to conduct the elections and to avoid the repetition of issues that marred the parliamentary elections,” said Abdullah Qarluq, deputy head of Junbish Milli party of Afghanistan.
 
Some of Afghanistan’s mainstream political parties and election observers on Thursday blamed the IEC for vote irregularities in the October 20 parliamentary elections which were marred by widespread allegations of fraud and rigging.
 
They said the election commission had not taken any steps to bring about systematic reforms in the election process, adding that the IEC leadership has pushed the election process towards a deadlock, suggesting IEC officials step down from their posts.
 
But, officials from the IEC have hit out over the allegations, saying the shortcomings in the elections were due to weakness in the operational sector of the commission.
 
But, election observers have said the IEC should undertake systematic reforms in the body to ensure that future elections are held in a free, fair and transparent manner.
 
On December 22, the IEC said the candidates' registration process for the upcoming presidential elections had started and so far no candidates had visited the commission for nomination.
However, the commission said 23 possible candidates had received information packages from the election commission. This process started on December 19, the commission said.
 
“Unfortunately we faced some problems. But there is no doubt today we will announce the calendar. The commission is fully prepared for registration and processing of documents,” said IEC commissioner Sayed Hafiz Hashemi.
 
IEC on Wednesday confirmed that there might be a delay in the upcoming presidential elections “due to some certain reasons”.
 
The upcoming presidential elections were meant to take place on April 20 next year.