Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: Afghanistan Civil Society Federation (ACSF) urged the government to bring about electoral reforms and choose qualified people as cabinet picks.
Members of the ACSF in a press conference on Tuesday called on the national unity government (NUG) to bring electoral reforms and chose qualified people as cabinet members.
They warned that people would not participate in the coming parliamentary elections, unless reforms were brought in the electoral bodies.
Muhammad Yusuf Amin Zazai, a member of the ACSF, alleged that the government has failed to enforce law and order. He stressed that criminals should be punished instead of offering them high positions in the government. Though he did not mention a specific name, Zazai said that instead of punishing corrupt people, the incumbent government has chosen them as cabinet picks.
He urged the government to choose qualified and honest people from different provinces as ministers.
The ACSF also issued a joint declaration, which demanded punishment for those officials in the electoral bodies, involved in alleged electoral fraud.
The civil society activists also said that leadership of the two electoral bodies— Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Independent Electoral Complaint Commission (IECC) — to explain their impartiality in the presidential elections to the people of Afghanistan.
The declaration urged the government to take drastic measures to fire and prosecute corrupt workers in the electoral bodies who were involved in frauds, in order to pave the ground for free and fair elections in the future.
It is worth mentioning that the NUG had vowed to bring about fundamental reforms in the election system and chose cabinet picks based on qualification, rather than favoritism. (Abdul Zuhoor Qayomi)
