Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission will postpone this year's parliamentary election to Sept. 18 from its scheduled date of May 22, an Afghan official involved in the election process said on Sunday, Reuters reported.
The step removes one potential source of friction between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers days before an international conference in London on Afghanistan's future.
Postponing the vote will please Western countries who want time for reforms before the election, to help prevent a repeat of fraud that marred a presidential poll in 2009, said an international diplomat, who confirmed the new date.
"It is a pragmatic and sensible decision which will allow time for reform of the key electoral institutions to enable cleaner parliamentary elections," said the diplomat, asking not to be identified while commenting before the formal announcement.
The commission has scheduled a news conference for later on Sunday.
The international community will not be pleased if Karzai reappoints the election commission's head, Azizullah Ludin, whose term expired on Saturday, the diplomat said. Karzai's opponents accuse Ludin, a presidential appointee, of favouring Karzai.
The Afghan official said the election was being postponed because of a shortage of the $120 million needed to pay for it, and the decision was not linked to calls abroad for reforms.
The United Nations is holding tens of millions of dollars in an account to pay for elections in Afghanistan, but diplomats say they would not have allowed those funds to be released unless Afghanistan carried out reforms first.
Afghanistan to postpone parliament poll
