Afghanistan Times
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There would be another race in 2018 as the country will hold long-delayed parliamentary and district council elections, some three years after they were meant to take place. Previously, Independent Election Commission (IEC), announced date at a news conference in Kabul, terming the success of the polls depend on proper funding and security. Moreover, on eight October, IEC official informed about assessment process regarding the proposal by a UAE-based company to supply all electronic equipment for election. Officials said the UAE company, Prologix, was the only company that met the quotation deadline for the $16 million USD project. However, some commissioners not happy with deal, saying the company does not meet all criteria needed to secure the contract. But on Tuesday, IEC said the agreement revoked. However, IEC earned harsh criticism last month over the Prologix affair as it reportedly sent letters out to hand-picked companies rather than putting in out for public tender. Anyways, the Afghan masses want elections to be held peacefully, free of any sort of fraud and interferences. We are very nascent in this race, but making efforts to practice democracy in its true sprits, which election is one of its important pillars that pave way for commoners to vote for their favorite candidates. Latest presidential election was very much controversial that runoff announced. It is believe that there was widespread fraud in election. We should not forget that fraud brought the legitimacy of IEC under extreme question as so many reports of fraud have been registered, and it was time-consuming to review complaints in that time. After so many challenges, finally election result announced. Today we have National Unity Government, and we support the government as we voted for both President Ashraf Ghani, and CEO Abdullah Abdullah even at cost of lives. It was reported that insurgents chopped off fingers of voters, but yet can’t marred the Afghans from casting votes. Noting this, there is no doubt that Afghan masses want to practice democracy in real scenes. Moreover, Abdullah Abdullah during Council of Ministers meeting said the government is committed to support a transparent and on-time election. He said biter experiences around past elections should not be repeated in the upcoming elections, urging IEC to do its best to regain public’s trust in the election commission and election process. His remark, leaving no doubt over suspicious still exists among Afghan people over holding transparent elections. Moreover, despite reforms, it seems that deadlock over electoral process is still on-air, and also create worries over the next presidential election in 2019. For sure, the government will take every necessary measure to run parliamentary and district council elections on due time, including maintaining security of polling stations nationwide. But time will speak of it. Moreover, 2018 elections will give us clear landscape about 2019 election, consisting of both, free, fair and transparent, or fraudulent.
