A former official of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday criticized the electoral body for a delay in finalizing the budget for the upcoming presidential elections, warning that it will undermine the whole process.
Last week on Wednesday, an election commissioner Mawlana Abdullah said they are in talks with the Finance Ministry to finalize the budget as soon as possible.
The IEC last month estimated that the presidential elections and the district councils and the Ghazni parliamentary election will cost $132 million. But later, the commission removed district councils and Ghazni parliamentary elections from the process, saying that only the presidential elections will be held on September 28.
Daud Ali Najafi, former head the IEC secretariat, said the whole electoral process will be stalled until the budget is not finalized.
“It shows the lack of planning, lack of experience and it shows that a national process is changing into a mess,” said Najafi.
“There is no will for holding the [presidential] elections and the commissioners are ‘confused’,” said Khoshal Watandost, an MP.
Meanwhile, the head of the IEC secretariat, Habib Rahman Nang, said all their plans are ongoing well, but he did not talk about improvements in the election budget.
“The operational plan has been approved. The action plan is prepared, and we are going ahead step by step,” Nang said.
