KABUL - Afghanistan's parliament rejected a bid by President Hamid Karzai to tighten his control over a key electoral watchdog body, after concerns he was reneging on promises to clean up corruption.
The lower house voted down a proposal to allow Karzai to appoint three of the five members the Electoral Complaints Commission that monitors election fraud and had stripped Karzai of nearly one-third of his votes in last year's presidential election. Karzai was declared the victor after his challenger dropped out of a runoff.
In February, Karzai signed a decree allowing him to appoint all five members of the body, but agreed later to allow two foreigners on the commission.
Previously, the United Nations appointed the chairman and two other commissioners. The Afghan human rights commission and the Supreme Court named one commissioner each.
Karzai issued the decree when parliament was not in session. Afghan law gives parliament the option of reviewing -- and possibly rejecting-- such decrees after it reconvenes.
Wednesday's rejection follows concerns among many at home and in the West that Karzai is backing away form commitments to clean up the graft, cronysim, and vote fraud -- often cited as among the reasons many Afghans have turned to the Taliban. Western diplomats and the UN had pushed Karzai hard not to force through the changes to the commission.
Independent legislator Fatama Aziz said many lawmakers believed Karzai had no intention on consulting independent voices on the makeup of the commission.
"A very important commission whose decisions are very important for the fate of the country should not be discussed only among certain people," said Aziz, who represents the northern province of Kunduz.
Mohammed Nazir Hanafi said its provisions limited consultation mainly to presidential appointees such as the attorney general and supreme court chief justice.
"Who would decide on appointees? Only those connected to the government. This is unacceptable," said Hanafi.
Hanafi was a member of the parliamentary committee that studied the proposed changes to the electoral law that included the move to alter the makeup of the complaints commission.
He said the committee found a total of 35 points of dispute in the law over issues including representation for women, asset declaration by candidates, and required education standards for members of parliament and the president.
The rejection rules out any changes to the electoral law ahead of parliamentary polls due in September.
