KABUL - A recent survey conducted by an Afghan election watchdog group has found that 94 per cent of Afghan parliamentarians believe that procedure of appointment of the head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has direct impact on the independence of the Commission.

The Chairman of the Commission should be an impartial and apolitical individual who could play a vital role in management and supervision of the election process, found the survey conducted by Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA).

The findings of survey were presented yesterday at a gathering in Kabul, which was attended by members of political parties, civil society organizations and representatives from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Ministry of Justice and the Lower House of Afghan parliament (Wolesi Jirga).

The respondents of the survey included 36 lawmakers from the 249-member Lower House on the “draft Law on Structure and Duties of Independent Elections Commission”.

“About 75 per cent of the respondents realized the need for amendments in the law while another 94 percent believed that the affairs relating to the Election Commissions should be managed through a separate law,” said Shah Mahmood Mal, Programme Officer FEFA.

The survey findings emphasized that the new law should guarantee independence of the election commissioners from any sort of political interference.

Almost half of the surveyed lawmakers were of the view that the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Commission should be elected by the members of Commission while 27 per cent thought that the authority for appointment on these positions should rest with the President of Afghanistan, however the candidates for these positions should be nominated by the members of Commission.

After the presentation, the Director of Policy at the Ministry of Interior, General Abdul Razaq Saighani, told the gathering that a draft of policy on the duties of national police during elections is being finalized in cooperation with the relevant Government ministries and other agencies. This policy will help better elaborate the role of the police in the elections process so as to prevent any misuse of the police force.

Electronic ID cards

The Director of Assessment and Evaluation at Directorate of Civil Registration, Ministry of Interior, Mohammad Karim Saighani informed the gathering about a project to distribute electronic identity cards.

He said, according to an agreement between the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the project will commence on 30 December 2012 and the first electronic identity card will be given to President Hamid Karzai.

“The project will start from Kabul Province and within a period of three years, 70 per cent of the population will be given electronic identity cards,” said Karim Saighani.

For the electronic identity cards project to complete, it requires US$ 119, but officials said the Afghan Government has allocated only US$ 15 million for the next three years.

The participants of meeting, particularly the representatives of political parties stressed the importance of electronic identity cards to ensure transparency in the elections process.

However, civil society activists expressed concerns over the capacity of the Afghan Government to implement this project.

Mir Ahmed Joyenda, a civil society activist, didn’t agree that there is a fund crunch. He claimed that international organizations are ready to provide US$ 110 million for this project. “But the Afghan Government doesn’t have the will and capacity,” said Mr. Joyenda.

Another political analyst, Abdul Rehman Hotak suggested that the voter registration process should go together with the issuance of electronic identity cards so that time and resources could be saved.