The Afghan president has backed down and agreed to include two foreigners on the elections’ watchdog panel, after concerns were raised over corruption.
Hamid Karzai has reversed a decree which allowed him to appoint all five members of the Electoral Complaints Commission.
Afghanistan’s ECC was responsible for stripping a third of Karzai’s votes over allegations of fraud in last year’s election.
However last month he gave his government and supreme court sole power to appoint its membersThe move was criticised as a bid to control the body ahead of this autumn’s parliamentary elections.
On Saturday, Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said the president is now willing to accept some foreigners on the election watchdog body because the country is in a “transitional phase” to democracy.
He said: “The Afghan government has shown its readiness to accept two non-Afghans on the Electoral Complaints Commission and this has been announced to the United Nations,”
The monitoring body, which is separate from the elections commission that administers the polls, would still be controlled by Afghans, said Omar.
It is not yet clear whether Karzai or the UN would appoint the foreign commission members.
The watchdog previously had three UN appointed experts on its panel.
After last year’s presidential vote, the ECC ruled there had been widespread ballot stuffing forcing Karzai into a potential runoff.
However he was later declared the victor when his remaining challenger Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race.
Tackling the widespread political corruption in Afghanistan is seen as one of key issues for securing the withdrawal of UK and US troops and handing back full control of the country.
The head of the advocacy group Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, Jandad Spinghar, said the nationalities of the monitoring commission matter less than how independently the watchdog works in the next elections.
Springhar said “It’s good news ... but there are still concerns.”
“If there is no legal guarantee for the independence of the ECC, there will be problems.”
Source:The Times
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