The Council of Ministers has approved the new election law without an Election Complaints Commission (ECC), assigning the powers that would belong to the ECC to the Supreme Court, according to the Independent Elections Commission (IEC).(20121204)

The Electoral Complaint Commission ECC has five Members, who all were newly appointed 20100417:

New International Members:
1. Judge Johann Kriegler, a former chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa 1994 and former member of the Constitutional Court of South Africa,
2. Safwat Mustafa Sidqi, former member of the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq.

New Afghan members:
3. Former Supreme Court Judge Qazi Sayed Murad Sharifi,
4. University of Kabul Professor and Lecturer Ahmad Zia Rafat
5. Former Government Official and member Of Parliament, Shah Sultan Akifi Akefi Atefi,

Background:
Karzai's endorsement of two foreign nationals to the ECC comes after he tried to ban non-Afghans from the commission but was blocked by Afghanistan's upper house of parliament. The ECC in the 2009 Presidential Elections threw out more than half a million votes cast for Karzai because of voting irregularities.