Afghan leader postpones grand council

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has postponed for two months the process of approving a new constitution, his spokesman said today, but insisted that historic elections scheduled for next year will take place on time.

Karzai made his decision following demands from the commission responsible for drafting the new Afghan constitution, which has sought more time to get input from ordinary Afghans.

The President has postponed the date for the grand council, the loya jirga, until mid-December, his spokesman, Jawid Luddin said. The exact date was not clear.

The move threw into doubt whether there will be enough time to plan and organise nationwide elections scheduled for June 2004, which would be the first in Afghanistan in decades.

However, Luddin said the timing of the vote would not be effected by the move.

“Elections will be held six months after the loya jirga,” he said.

The commission recently announced it would need more time to talk to Afghans before the grand council meets. The council is to comprise 500 delegates, mostly elected by district representatives.

Luddin said that the new date actually brings the entire process back to its original timetable which was set at a 2001 conference of Afghan leaders in Bonn, Germany.

“The President’s decree was expected. They (the commission) suggested it wouldn’t be possible to hold the constitutional loya jirga in October,” Luddin said.