What to do to ensure relative transparency in election?

While Afghanistan is less than three months away from its parliamentary and district council elections, concerns about the electoral process are on the rise. Election watchdogs voice skepticism about the National Unity Government’s political will to carry out the election. They believe that the government not only has not made necessary arrangements for the elections, but it is also trying to engineer and plunge the election into a crisis. The Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) asserts that evidence shows the employees of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) will not remain neutral during the election because their recruitment was not transparent. According to TEFA, the IEC has failed to introduce necessary reforms, and that there is high possibility of massive fraud in the upcoming election.
The National Unity Government’s actions with regard to election had been worrisome since its inception. The government repeatedly delayed the election on one pretext or another. It also limited electoral reforms to the replacement of individuals, and fell short of overhauling the electoral system. The flaws in the country’s electoral system, which are considered as the main culprit for vote rigging and turning the election controversial, remain unaddressed. On the pretext of preparing a reliable voters’ list, the election commission decided to invalidate the old voting cards, and instead use voting stickers attached to the national identity cards. However, the voter registration process showed that the use of national identity cards for voting also cannot guarantee the transparency of election. IEC has said that about nine million people have registered to vote, but there are questions about the credibility of the number.
The government has to at least take all concerns about election seriously to avoid another electoral dispute. Before election is further discredited in the eyes of people, the government should take steps to restore than further undermine the public’s faith in election. For various reasons, now that there is no opportunity and time to do the biometric registration of voters, and that the electronic national identity cards also have not been distributed, the government has to create an enabling environment for the oversight of election. The government and the Independent Election Commission need to allow national and international election watchdogs to oversee elections. The more the oversight of election, the higher the chances of prevention of ballot rigging. Although it also cannot fully ensure transparency in election because it is impossible to oversee every polling station, it can help lend legitimacy to election results and prevent another electoral controversy.