Kabul faces crisis over election delay

KABUL (NNI): Afghanistan could soon face a constitutional crisis, with Hamid Karzai's term as president of the war-torn country due to expire before new elections are held. The president's term ends in May under the constitution, but the Independent Election Commission said last week that polls could not be organised in time because of snow-blocked roads and security concerns, reports Financial Times. Mirwais Yasini, deputy parliamentary spokesman, said elections were unlikely to be held until after Ramadan in September, potentially opening a months-long period of uncertainty about who will be in charge. Although the country's 2004 muddled constitution leaves open the possibility of delaying elections because of unfavourable conditions, it does not address what would happen to the presidency during such time. Opposition politicians, unhappy that the election will be delayed, believe Karzai should relinquish power to a caretaker president. The constitution would suggest Sibghatullah Mojadedi, speaker of the upper house of parliament, but he has not been in good health. "There should be a provisional administration and an acting president appointed, who should be chosen by a decision of both houses of parliament and prominent national figures," said Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president who now heads the United National Front, the country's largest opposition group. John Dempsey, a lawyer who heads up the US Institute of Peace in Kabul, said the politicians opposing Mr Karzai had a "plausible legal argument". "Whether or not Karzai stays in office beyond that [May] date, or whether a caretaker government takes over, the government could very well be facing a legitimacy crisis in the summer," he said. The spring and summer is traditionally when Taliban attacks escalate and the new US administration will be ramping up its efforts to turn round the deteriorating situation in the country. Added to this, the International Institute for Strategic Studies warned in a report that presidential elections this year would take place "amid rising violence and with a government that is unable to exert its authority in the provinces". "Against this background there is a risk that it will not be possible to hold elections; or voter turnout may be below the minimum necessary for the ballot to be valid. The integrity of the whole international mission in Afghanistan is therefore very substantially at stake." Humayun Hamidzada, a presidential spokesman, said the constitution allowed for the president to remain in office until after elections were held. "The people who say otherwise are playing at politics and are not taking account of what is in the national interest or the realities in the country." The president's office is believed to be considering seeking a Supreme Court decision to back its constitutional interpretation.