Consecutive electoral crises have eroded public trust in election as an important democratic principle. After the controversy surrounding the results of 2014 presidential election, the new administration was expected to reform the electoral system and organize transparent and fair elections in order to restore faith in the process, but that unfortunately remained a dream. The government delayed the parliamentary poll for three years under the pretext of electoral reforms, but indeed only equally divided the seats of Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) like other government posts and appointed new commissioners, a blunder that resulted in a new election crisis. Even after the 3-year delay, the parliamentary election was as poorly managed and riddled with problems and irregularities as it had never been in the history of election in Afghanistan. The Independent Election Commission unluckily failed to hold a fair and transparent election in capital Kabul.
The new election commissions, who were sworn in yesterday, are facing major challenges amid claims by independent election watchdogs that they lack relevant experience. The first challenge they have to overcome is the announcement of results of previous parliamentary election. Although previous commissioners declared the results of some provinces, the final results of several provinces, including Kabul which is the largest constituency, have not yet been announced. The new leadership of IEC and IECC must determine the fate of the results of parliamentary election as soon as possible. The problem for them here is that previous commissioners managed the election, and they now have to announce the final results.
Another challenge before the new commissioners is the preparation for the July presidential election. While it is expected to be delayed even beyond the lastly announced date, necessary arrangements need to be made for it no matter when it will be held. By learning a lesion from the past mistakes, the new election leadership must try to utilize the existing resources to the max to hold a transparent and fair election. They also need to restore the eroded public trust in the election. If the new commissioners also fail to manage the upcoming elections, the blame will also go to all the presidential candidates as it was they who elected them.