[ Afghan Elections 2004-2005 ]

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a 21 October press release that the Afghan authorities and UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) must take immediate action in order to meet the deadline for the country's parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2005. "There is no question that the parliamentary, provincial, and district elections scheduled for next spring will be much more difficult to administer than the presidential elections were," said Robert Barry, head of OSCE's Election Support Team for Afghanistan. Prior to Afghanistan's 9 October presidential election, Barry indicated that the OSCE would not supervise the poll and would not issue a statement about the fairness of the process, opting instead to provide a set of recommendations to the Afghan authorities for use in future elections (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 8 October 2004). The OSCE's recommendations have been published in a 17-page report dated 18 October that can be found on the organization's website (http://www.osce.org) (Amin Tarzi)