Afghan President Hamid Karzai's announcement that presidential elections will be brought forward by four months to April has drawn fire from opposition groups inside the country, and caused concern from the US government. In a presidential decree, Karzai asked the election commission Saturday to conduct presidential, parliamentary, provincial council, district council and municipality elections in accordance with the constitution.
Under the constitution, the presidential election must be held 30 to 60 days before the presidential term ends on May 22. Hours after his announcement, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Karzai to discuss the elections and the situation in Afghanistan, Karzai' office said in a statement. This did not say if she supported the new date, but a statement by the US embassy said that Washington preferred the elections on August 20.
"The United States supports the underlying principles articulated by President Karzai and reiterates its view that elections in August, as proposed by the Independent Elections Commission, is the best means to assure every Afghan citizen would be able to express his or her political preference in a secure environment," the embassy said. "Afghanistan requires an orderly, open and democratic process that ensures continuity of government through the election period to maintain political stability," it added.
The polls had been put back to August 20 by the election commission last month because of logistical and security problems. Karzai, the United Nations and international communities including the US had all supported delaying the elections. However, opposition groups and some members of parliament had responded to the postponement by saying that they would not recognise Karzai as legitimate president after May 22.
In the decree Karzai, who has made clear he will run for a second term, justified his move by referring to the 63rd and 64th articles of the constitution, which leave the president with authority and responsibility to ensure and protect the country's supreme law. A spokesman for Afghan Independent Election Commission said Sunday they were not officially notified by the president and they would announce their stance after consultations with all members of the commission.
"If he really wanted to hold the election on time and according to constitution, he could have done it six or seven months ago. He did not do that, because he did not want the elections to take place on time," said Agha Hussain Fazel Sancharaki, spokesman for the National Front, the biggest opposition party. "By his decree he wants to sabotage the elections, because now everyone knows it is too late to hold the elections in April," he said, adding: "It is just a political game to wrong-foot other candidates who are not yet well-prepared."
Karzai won in the 2004 from a field of 18 candidates. More than a dozen people including former government ministers, and Jehadi leaders have signalled they will run this time, but most have not declared their intention officially. Sancharaki said his group was "well-prepared" for April's elections, but expressed concerns that other contenders would not have enough time to reach out the whole country for their campaign.
"As a president, he can easily use his government power to travel to remote areas and do campaign, but what about the others," he added. In an interview on Thursday with dpa, a former finance minister in Karzai's administration, Ashraf Ghani, said an April election would deprive many Afghans from voting.
"Because of snow and bad weather, access to many areas in central Afghanistan by the election commission would be impossible until mid- spring and many people would not be able to take part in voting," he said. Waheed Muzhda, a political analyst and former official under the Taliban regime said.
"Everyone including members of parliament, influential leaders, and even his first vice president, has accused Karzai of not ensuring the implementation of the constitution and turning a blind eye on the delay of the elections. "Now Karzai has put everyone in a difficult situation, and now everyone will have to accept him as a legitimate leader for another four months until August.
The Taliban have already vowed to disrupt the elections and several Nato countries have pledged to send thousands of more extra troops to provide security for the polling day. US President Barack Obama has announced deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan by summer this year - vital for the security of election besides their main mandate to quell Taliban-led insurgency.
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