Balance in poll results from provinces stressed

KABUL activists and members of tribal councils on Wednesday asked the two electoral bodies to maintain a balance among provinces with regard to releasing partial returns.

They told a press conference in Kabul that the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) should announce unambiguous results by discarding bogus votes.

Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and the Wolesi Jirga had also called on the electoral bodies to separate fraudulent votes from fake ones before releasing further results.

Representatives of civil society groups and tribal councils asked the electoral institutions to consider a balance in results from provinces.

They issued a statement, which accused the IEC of not taking into account a balance and fairness in results from provinces.

It said the IEC had failed in some instances to provide a proper explanation that how did it declared votes as valid and incorporated clean ones in partial results.

The statement called on the IEC to explain to the masses how it separated fraudulent votes from valid ones and do more to ensure the vote count process had been transparent and the results far from being dubious.

It also called for timely action to decide and make clear the fate of quarantined ballot boxes, asking the IECC to expose individuals having committed fraud and declare invalid fraudulent votes without any hesitation.

In a reference to the 100,000 votes thrown out in western Herat province, the statement said electoral complaints commission officials should continue their job and name those creating hurdles in their way.

“We call on the electoral bodies to stay impartial in their job because the fate of Afghans’ vote is in their hand. The Afghans will support every honest decision by the electoral bodies.”

They also asked the government to avoid any kind of meddling in the electoral process in a mark of respect to the law.

They said the government should help the electoral bodies monitor, detect and punish elements involved in irregularities and prevent such people from putting pressure on the commissions.

They warned if the elections were spoiled or discredited, the government and the electoral bodies would be responsible for that.

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