By NNN-Xinhua,
Kabul : Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) Wednesday refused to support President Hamid Karzai’s decree to move presidential election forward to April or May.
“We fully respect President Karzai’s order of moving the election forward,” Azizullah Ludin, Director of the commission said. “However, we need more time for voters’ registration in some areas.”
“The election will still be conducted on August 20,” he added. “We need 223 million dollars more to run the election, and we need time to transport ballots to many rural areas.”
So far 4.3 million voters have registered out of a potential electorate of 16 million people, local media reported.
The commission has announced in January the election would be postponed to August 20 because of logistical and security worries. But Karzai, who has declared his intention to run for a second term, suddenly issued a decree last week, ordering the commission to move the election forward to adhere to the Afghan constitution.
The president’s office term will end on May 21, and the presidential election should take place 30 to 60 days before that date under the terms of the country’s Constitution.
Karzai’s decision drew criticism from the country’s opposition leaders, who complained they won’t have enough time to prepare for a spring vote.
The U.S., Britain and United Nations supported the postponement of the election, saying August election would be safer.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement Saturday saying it believed August elections were “the best means to assure every Afghan citizen would be able to express his or her political preference in a secure environment.”
U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to stabilize the country’s security situation. An early poll would not benefit from the arrival of the additional U.S. troops.