KABUL: The Taliban has dissolved the Afghan General Election Commission, a panel that oversees polls during the previous Western-supported government, a spokesman for the Islamic government said on Saturday.
“There is no need for this commission to exist and operate,” Taliban government spokesman Bilal Karimi said, referring to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Election election complaint commission.
“If we feel the need, the Islamic Emirates will revive this commission.” The Taliban swept power in August when the West-supported government exploded in the final stage of US military withdrawal.
Established in 2006, IEC was mandated to manage and supervise all types of elections, including the President, according to the commission website.
“They have made this decision in a hurry and dissolving the Commission will have great consequences,” Aurangzeb, who led the panel until it fell from the previous regime, told AFP.
“If this structure does not exist, I am 100 percent confident that Afghanistan problems will never be solved because there will be no election,” said Aurangzeb, which is like many Afghanistan just one name.
Halim Fidai, a senior politician in the previous regime, said the decision to dissolve the election commission showed the Taliban “did not believe in democracy”.
“They opposed all democratic institutions.
They get power through bullets and not ballots,” said Fidai, who was the governor of four provinces over the past two decades.
Before the Taliban took over, several electoral commission officials were killed by extremist groups.
Karimi said the authorities also dissolved two government departments this week – the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry of Parliament.
A very conservative Taliban has closed the former administrative female ministry and replaced it with a ministry for the promotion of virtues and prevention of representatives.
The ministry gained fame during the first taliban task in the 1990s for enforcing a harsh doctrine of religion.
Islamists urge the international community to restore billions of dollars in suspended assistance and have promised more moderate rules this time.