KABUL (SW) – The Independent Election Complaint Commission has received up to a thousand complaints against the initial Wolesi Jirga (lower house) results for Kabul and the nomads.
The 48 hours deadline for submitting the complaints ended last evening. Ali Reza Rouhani, spokesman for the IECC, told Salam Watandar these complaints are under review.
Yosuf Rasheed, head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, said in this regard that the attitude of the IECC towards the initial results from Kabul and the nomads is ‘questionable’. He added the electoral commissions have treated the matter in an unprofessional way. Rasheed stressed the complaints should be vigorously pursued.
The electoral observers believe the IECC’s attitude towards these results has undermined the credibility of this electoral body.
Haroon Motarif, one such protesting WJ candidate, stressed the IECC should stand firm by its previous decision of declaring all votes cast in Kabul as void due to the rampant irregularities and corruption.
The IECC had declared all votes cast in Kabul as void, however, this sparked reaction from the IEC, and eventually the first vice president, Sarwar Danish, intervened to reverse the decision. The results from Kabul and the nomads have sparked widespread protest from the candidates who have blamed the electoral commission for taking bribes and committing fraud.
ENDS
