KABUL (SW) – A number of election observers have raised concerns over restrictions introduced by the electoral commission in connection with the forthcoming presidential polls.
The observers believe these limitations might well be aimed at engineered results out of the polls.
Yousuf Rashid, executive director of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, or FIFA, told Salam Watandar that officials from the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in the provinces are refusing to give voter registration details, which undermines transparency.
According to him, the commission is seeking to control the registration process of the voters in order to manipulate the results. He said the provincial IEC offices are not sharing information on the directives of the central office in Kabul.
A number of local journalists in the provinces are also faced with challenges in this regard.
According to them, when they ask for information from the provincial authorities of the election commission, they are told that they are not entitled to share information as per the instructions of the central office.
Abdul Basir Mohmand, head of the IEC in Ghazni, said in response to a local journalist's question that only few people have so far registered for the polls, but based on the guidance of the central office, everyone seeking information in this regard should refer to the headquarters in Kabul.
As per Erfan Barzgar, a Takhar-based journalists, it is difficult to gather information in this connection as officials are not sharing the details with journalists.
We wished to have the views of the IEC, but to no avail.
ENDS
