Gov’t to Set Election Date Before Brussels Summit

All measures for the legislative decree have been finalized and will announced for reforms in the near future, the Presidential Palace said.

The presidential citadel has stated that the government will set the parliamentary election date before going to the Brussels summit.

“According to the commitments of the Afghan government, we will go for the Brussels summit and will talk about elections and reforms,” said Dawa Khan Mina Pal, President’s deputy spokesman.

Meanwhile, the electoral observing institutions say that holding the election would not be impossible if the government has willing for it.

“All things depend to the government, it can bring reforms and changes if it has any willing,” said Yousuf Rashid, CEO of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA).

Afghans should return to the polls on October 15, 2016, according to the country’s Independent Election Commission (IEC), but there are significant hurdles to overcome before then.

Electoral reform was one of the key elements of the political compromise between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah that created the national unity government.

It took months to negotiate a compromise and salvage a government out of a messy election marred by allegations of fraud.

Included in the formation of the NUG was a promise to hold local elections within two years and convene an assembly to amend the constitution to create a prime minister position for Abdullah.

The parliamentary and district elections were supposed to be held in June 2015, but were delayed because reforms had not been enacted and security continued to be fragile.

Ghani extended the current parliament’s terms until elections could be held, a move which some challenged as illegal.