Afghanistan national journalists union’s suggestion plan regarding the article 59th of the election drafted law (Media commission of independent election commission)
The Afghanistan election drafted law has recently been prepared and expected to send for endorsement of national assembly.
A number of political parties along with civil society organizations are straggling to bring more amendments to this draft.
There is a suggestion plan in article 59th of election drafted law over the media commission of independent election commission. Beside other designated tasks that this commission would have, it will assess the violations of mass media; therefore Afghanistan national journalists’ union believes that changes must be brought to the mentioned article.
There is to mention that while we use the term of “commission” itself, it bears the meaning of independent election commission.
The article of 59th of drafted election law:
Media commission:
The media Commission shall establish, at least 90 days prior to the election date by the commission. The Media Commission shall monitor fair reporting and coverage of the electoral campaign period and shall deal with complaints concerning any breaches of fair reporting or coverage of the campaigns, or other violations of the Mass Media Code of Conduct.
Suggestion:
- The media Commission is to establish, at least 90 days prior to the election date to monitor the fair and professional coverage of the election campaign.
- The commission meanwhile is responsible to assess the part of media violations and code of conducts which are against the commission’s proposal.
Voter, Candidates, monitor, parties or coalition of political parties, social organizations and other people could submit their written complains to the media commission of the election commission.
Suggestion:
Voter, Candidates, monitor, parties or coalition of political parties, social organizations and other people could submit their written complains over the mass media violations regarding the election to the media commission of the election commission.
3- After the spotted of a media violation, the media commission could measure one of these steps:
- Issuance of a warning to the violator or strongly urge the violator for correction.
- After the commission’s endorsement, fine the violator of 5000 Afghanis to 100,000 Afghanis and of 100,000 Afghanis to 500,000 Afghanis.
- Introduction of violator to the justice after the commission’s endorsement.
Suggestion:
When a violation spotted, the media commission by considering the situation could take one of these steps:
- Issuance of a warning to the violator or urge the violator for correction.
- After the commission’s endorsement, fine the violator of 5000 Afghanis to 100,000 Afghanis and of 100,000 Afghanis to 500,000 Afghanis.
- Introduction of violator to the justice after the commission’s endorsement.
- If the media commission spotted a mass media violation as crime, it could introduce the violator to the justice organizations, after the endorsement of the commission.
Note:
Fine by cash is as cash penalty. According to the laws such as country’s penalty law, cash penalty over the amount of 3,000 Afghanis is a duty or job of court. The media commission of independent election commission can’t order a cash penalty.
The media commission’s job description and its duties have been lined by the commission.
Suggestion:
The code of conduct and duties of media commission have been lined by the commission.
The media commission making code of conducts for its duties, and it should be coincided with the commission endorsment.
Suggestion:
If the media commission faces with the issues that is unclear over its duties and job descriptions, it could makes code of conducts for betterment of affairs. This code of conducts must carry the OK of the commission before use.
After fulfillment of all its duties and after 45 days following the announcement of election results, the media commission must dismissed and submit its duties to the commission.
Suggestion:
The media commission during the minimum two months after the announcement of election results should be dismissed. The media commission is responsible to fulfill all its duties prior to the dismissal date.
Note:
Article of 59th of the drafted election law which is describing the duties of the media commission is not clear about the appointment procedure of the commission’s members and its numbers.
Suggestion:
- Five persons are chosen as professional members of the commission.
-The election commission asking for eligible people to submit their petitions for the media commission through advertisements prior to the establishment of the media commission.
- Candidates must be chosen through majority of the election commission’s votes regarding their documents and experiences.Ethnic and gender balance should be concider beside their experiences.
- Chief of the commission is chosen from the members and by the members.
The written text of this Suggestion over the article of 59th of the proposed election law has been sent to independent election commission, the law department of justice ministry, the executive board of minister’s council and the law committee of the Afghanistan national assembly.
