Another electoral crisis on the horizon

With each passing day come new barriers to the parliamentary election process at a time when the voting is less than two months away. An alliance of major political parties called, ‘The Grand National Coalition of Afghanistan’ on Saturday released thousands of fake identity cards (ID) cards and voting stickers. Some of the ID cards were even featuring photos of famous political figures and lawmakers. The coalition claims that the Independent Election Commission (IEC), in cahoots with Arg or the Presidential Palace, intended to use the ID cards to influence the results of the upcoming election. Members of the alliance stress that these documents have been shared with them by ordinary people and in some instances, by IEC employees. They warn that if the government and IEC do not meet their demands, they will boycott the parliamentary election. The coalition leaked out the fake ID cards after the government and Independent Election Commission refused to bring changes to the electoral system. One of the major demands of the allied political parties is to do a biometric registration of voters, which, according to IEC, is impossible now, because on the one hand there is no enough time to do so, but on the other hand any change in the electoral system should be brought after the amendment of the electoral laws.
The release of such large number of fake ID cards and other documents by the Grand National Coalition of Afghanistan faces election with a serious challenge of legitimacy. Holding the parliamentary election amid such serious problems can plunge the country into another electoral dispute. If the election commission doesn’t take satisfactory actions to address the issues, the parliamentary candidates will refuse to accept the results of the election on the basis of these or similar documents in case they lose. In the parliamentary election, the number of candidates is not as limited as in the presidential election so that they can reach a political compromise like the presidential runners did in forming the national unity government.
The Independent Election Commission should take the issue of release of fake ID cards by the coalition of political parties seriously. The allegations of voting stickers attached to fake ID cards must be investigated in the light of applicable laws, and if they are found to be true, logical steps should be taken to prevent the election from becoming disputed. Should the election commission fail to do so, the government and IEC will be responsible for any crisis the election will trigger.