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Elections are in violation M. Faheem
Dashti The Independent
Elections Commission issued a press release announcing that the presidential
elections will be delayed from spring 2009 to the fall of the same year. The IEC
previously announced that winter snows resulting in road closures would
prevent the IEC from preparing for a spring election. The press release
states that discussions to delay the elections were made in meetings between
President Karzai, Parliament, the Chief Justice, jihadi leaders and political
party leaders. The decision to delay the election date is not appropriate by
any means. The government should facilitate the conditions necessary to
prepare for a spring elections. According to the
Constitution, the current presidential term expires on May 21 of the
president's fifth year. Election should be held one or two months before the
end of the term. Delaying the elections is a direct violation of the
Constitution. Article 61 of the Constitution clearly states the date of the
next elections and the final day of the current presidential term. The Constitution
can only be amended through a Loya Jirga gathering. No other officials or
authorities have the power to amend or change the Constitution. For several
months now, discussions at the presidential palace with various diplomats and
politicians revolved around whether parliamentary and presidential elections
should be held at the same time. The President indicated in the past his
opinion that simultaneous elections should be conducted. Opposition groups,
particularly the United Front, have stated that they planned to lobby for
separate elections. The decision to delay the presidential
elections was announced before President Karzai agreed to hold presidential
and parliament elections separately and it appears that President Karzai's
struck a deal with the opposition. The opposition agreed to delaying the
presidential elections, while the President agreed to holding separate
elections. In essence, the opposition agreed to extend his term by several months. Back-room
political deals are common in most democracies, however these deals never
violate the Constitution. The President,
along with the Supreme Court justices and parliamentarians swore to uphold
the Constitution. If these officials violate the law, how can we look forward
to rule of law and good governance in this country? This is not the
first time that the Constitution has been violated and it's not even the
first case of the President violating the Constitution. In past cases, those
violations were not so blatant. For instance after the approval of the
Constitution by the Loya Jirga and before the President's endorsement some
articles of the Constitution were altered. No one in the government confessed
to making the changes. In the clash between the parliament and the President
over the presence of Foreign Affairs Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta both
sides defended their positions based on the Constitution yet none of them
accepted their actions as the violation of the law. In the latter case, the
Constitution does not have a clear solution to the issue. However this time
the issue is different. The group that
determined the matter of the presidential elections automatically extended
Karzai's term and they cannot defend their decision. Article 65 of the
Constitution states that “the President can seek public opinion with regards
to important national, social, political and economic issues. Seeking public
opinion must not violate the Constitution or require its amendments.” President Karzai did not seek the public
opinion, but asked for the views of so-called political and government
leaders. Throughout its
history Afghanistan suffered because of the rule of the individual. With the
establishment of the elected government with the help of international
community Afghans looked forward to lawful government. However the outcome is
that everyone enforces his own opinions and even high-ranking government
officials and well-known political leaders violate the Constitution to
achieve their own goals. This terrible tradition has always existed in
Afghanistan. Not only is this tradition being perpetuated today, the
possibility of eliminating it fades.
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