Afghanistan has postponed parliamentary elections until September because of a lack of funding - a move likely to be welcomed by Western countries pressing for reforms after a fraud-marred presidential poll. The Independent Election Commission has said it still needs about $50 million from the international community to meet the vote's estimated budget of $120m. That funding has not been forthcoming, according to commissioner Fazel Ahmed Manawi. He also attributed the delay to security concerns and logistical challenges at a news conference to announce the decision.
The vote, which had been scheduled for May 22, will be held on September 18 instead, Mr Manawi said. US lawmakers and other critics had pressed for a postponement in the wake of last August's disputed poll that re-elected President Hamid Karzai, warning that holding the vote without substantive electoral reform could undermine support for US aid to the insurgency-wracked country. The chief UN envoy Kai Eide also said earlier this month that there is a provision in Afghan law that permits the elections to be postponed for a few months. Mr Karzai had insisted the constitution, which specifies the elections be held by May, must be observed. But Mr Manawi today said the government would not be able to provide all the funding for the vote and needed more help from donor countries. The August presidential vote was so tarnished that UN-backed fraud investigators threw out more than a million ballots - enough to force Mr Karzai into a second-round vote. The run-off was later canceled when Mr Karzai's top challenger, the former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out.
*AP
