The Selection Committee for the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Saturday announced that it had received over 300 applications for ECC membership.
Gul Rahman Qazi, Director of the Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of Constitution (COIC) and member of the Selection Committee, said that work to sift through and evaluate the applications would begin on Sunday.
Out of the over 300 applications that were received, only 254 were completed properly and received by the Secretariat of the House of Representatives. Out of those 254 applications, 15 are to be selected and forwarded on to President Hamid Harzai for appointment. The President will only appoint five out of the 15 nominees for membership on the ECC.
The Law on the Governing, Job Description and Functioning of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) states that the ECC is an independent institution and will always work closely with the IEC. The Law also states that the ECC's decision on electoral complaints, violations and frauds would be final and binding.
The ECC has been endowed with special powers as well. The winner of the Presidential and Provincial Councils' elections can be announced only if the ECC approves the result.
Speaking about the selection procedure, Mr. Qazi stressed that individuals would be selected strictly on merit. He assured that gender or ethnicity would not be taken into consideration.
The Selection Committe was given 10 days' time by President Karzai to submit the list of nominees. Although, the deadline is near, so far, no one has been nominated for the ECC membership and it is unlikely that the list of 15 would be completed by the deadline given the high volume of applications.
"Well, it was the President's direction that the nomination must be completed in 10 days, but choosing the right candidate is most important," said Mr. Qazi. "We need to select the best for these positions."