An Afghan presidential contender has criticised president Hamid Karzai's call for the election to be brought forward from August to April, saying the earlier date would not give other candidates time to campaign.
Mr Karzai issued a decree yesterday saying the presidential election should be held before May, putting him on a collision course with the election commission which had already set August 20th as the date for polls.
The United States "supports the underlying principles articulated by president Karzai" but still believed August would be a better time to hold elections in a secure environment, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
US president Barack Obama has ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to try to secure the elections in August against the strong threat from Taliban insurgents. Bringing the polls forward would not give the troops time to even arrive in the country.
Other candidates would also be put in a disadvantage, said presidential contender Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
"All candidates and influential figures have been trying to get ready for the campaign in the month of August, but a sudden change to the decision and holding the elections in the month of April will create certain problems," he told Afghan television late yesterday.
Mr Karzai's decree said the election should be held according to the constitution, which states the president's term ends on May 21st and new polls to elect his successor must be held between 30 and 60 days before that.
Opposition leaders had said Mr Karzai's position would be illegitimate if he remained in office beyond May 21st. Mr Karzai's decree may be aimed at forcing opposition groups to agree to let him stay in office until August elections due to the impracticalities of an April vote.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has set August 20th as the date for the polls, saying a spring election would have to be organized during the harsh Afghan winter when many areas are inaccessible and people in those areas would be disenfranchised.
The IEC also pointed to a contradiction between the constitution and the electoral law which states the presidential term is five years, meaning that Karzai should stay in power until either October, five years after he won the last election, or December, five years after he took the oath of office.
"Before deciding the election date, the Independent Election Commission took into account all aspects including funding, security and the wide participation in the polls, and also climate," IEC deputy chief Zekria Barakzai told reporters.
He said the IEC had not yet received an official copy of the decree. "We are waiting to receive the presidential decree and then we will evaluate it and make our decision," he said.
Mr Ahmadzai, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, also pointed out further problems with holding the elections in April.
First, he said, only the Supreme Court had the right to interpret the constitution. According to the electoral law, at least 120 days must also be given to organize the polls, meaning there is not enough time to hold them in April.
Hafiz Mansur, the head of one of the two main opposition groups, said his party believed in the constitution but it should not be exploited to "create chaos, disorder and hold the elections unfairly," he told Afghan television.
Mr Ahmadzai called for a large meeting of Afghan political leaders to decide on how best to hold a free and fair election on the basis of national interests.
Reuters