Kabul -- Now that President Hamid Karzai has apparently backed down and agreed to include two non-Afghans in the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), many are left wondering whether the electoral watchdog panel will preserve its structure and retain its previous authority and independence.

In February, Karzai took advantage of a Parliamentary recess to sign into law several “amendments” to the election bill, the most prominent of which gave him total control over the ECC. Henceforth, according to the new law, all commissioners were to be Afghans, and few doubted that Karzai would have the final say on who takes up the seats.

The move was widely criticized both inside Afghanistan and internationally as a bid to exert executive authority ahead of this fall’s parliamentary elections.

The ECC was responsible for stripping Karzai of one-third of his votes in last August’s presidential elections, because of what it described as major irregularities, including ballot-box-stuffing and vote-rigging. 

Early this week, presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said that the president is now willing to accept some internationals on the ECC because the country is in a “transitional phase” to democracy.

“The Afghan government has shown its readiness to accept two non-Afghans on the Electoral Complaints Commission, and this has been announced to the United Nations," said Omar.

The electoral watchdog previously had three UN-appointed international experts on its panel and two Afghan nationals who were nominated by the country’s Judiciary and the Independent Human Rights Commission.

Karzai’s concession, deemed an “exceptional move” by his administration, will give Afghans the majority, however; it is unclear whether or not the next ECC will be limited to five commissioners.

According to Karzai’s legislative decree, five members of the Electoral Complaints Commission will be Afghans, two of whom will be nominated by the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament, one by the Human Rights Commission, one by the Judiciary and one by President.

But the president’s administration is vague on whether the two internationals are going be in addition to the “original five” or they will replace two of the Afghans. In the Election Law, there is no clear determination as to the number of members the body must have.

If the number of commissioners is to remain stable at five, then two of the Afghans will be excluded – but it is unclear whose nominees will be sacrificed.

Jandad Spinghar, head of the advocacy group Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), said the nationalities of the monitoring commission matter less than how independently the watchdog works in the next elections.

“It’s good news  (that there will be two internationals)... but there are still concerns,” said Spinghar. “If there are no legal guarantees of the ECC’s independence, there will be problems.”

Some legal experts and legislators have not been appeased by Karzai’s move to include internationals in the ECC.

“All that Karzai and his team do is vague,” said parliamentarian and legal expert Sarwar Jawadi. “The law does not recognize exceptions, so how do can say that it is ‘an exceptional move.’”

According to Jawadi, Karzai can no longer bring any changes to his legislative decree, because Parliament is in session and law-making belongs to the legislature.

MP and legal scholar Kabir Ranjbar agrees. He described the latest announcement by the president’s spokesman as “gibberish.”

“These changes have no legal basis and they are the continuation of numerous other illegal and irresponsible acts of state,” said Ranjbar.

According to the MPs, not only the latest “exceptional changes”, but the whole legislative decree is invalid if it does not go through the required legal procedure to become law.

Both Ranjbar and Jawadi say that if the president does not send his legislative degree to the parliament within a few days, it will be automatically rejected, because according to the Constitution, the parliament must discuss a legislative degree within 30 days after it reconvenes. The current session of Parliament began on February 20.

Article 79 of the constitution states that: “The legislative decrees should be submitted to the National Assembly in the course of thirty days beginning from the first session of the National Assembly. In case of rejection by the National Assembly, the legislations become void.”

Siamak Herawi, president’s deputy spokesman rejected the MPs objections and said that no changes have been made in the legislative decree.

“The president has accepted the inclusion of two foreigners in the ECC, nothing else has happened. The legal solutions will be sought later,” he said.