Ahead with date for next Afghan election, another tough security and political test.

Reuters readers were first to learn that Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections will be held in May, less than a year after a presidential vote that was marred by corruption and violence and damaged popular support for the war in the West. The deputy head of the government-appointed Independent Electoral Commission told Reuters on Dec 26 that President Hamid Karzai had decided to respect the deadline of late May set by the constitution even though there is unlikely to be time to reform electoral systems or guarantee security by then. Western governments have said they will provide neither cash nor troops for any poll unless there are major reforms to the electoral system that would avert a repeat of the presidential debacle, so the stage is set for a showdown.