U.N. joins chorus against moving Afghan election date

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U.N. joins chorus against moving Afghan election date
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The head of the U.N. peacekeeping efforts has added to the international criticism of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s play to move national elections up to this spring.

Karzai issued an emergency decree over the weekend, ordering the country’s election commission to move up the vote from the Aug. 20 date set by the commission.

Karzai has said that the election date should adhere to the country’s constitution, which calls for a vote 30 to 60 days before a presidential term ends.

Karzai’s five-year term ends on May 22.

On Monday, the U.N. official, Alain Le Roy, said an election before July would be "almost impossible." He said the Aug. 20 date is "credible and reasonable."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61099