MPs from east warn of civil disobedience

KABUL members from eastern provinces on Thursday warned of launching a civil disobedience movement if presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah’s demands were not endorsed.

The warning comes as about 100 supporters of Abdullah demonstrated in Kabul against alleged election fraud in last week’s presidential runoff vote.

Abdullah boycotted the vote count on Wednesday and suspended cooperation with the two electoral bodies, saying he was the victim of “blatant fraud” in the runoff election.

The former foreign minister, who topped the previous round of election, had also accused President Karzai and his aides of supporting his rival candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in the second round. But the Presidential Palace had rejected his claim as baseless.

Abdullah yesterday told reporters in Kabul he could no longer trust the electoral bodies because some ballot boxes were stuffed the day before the election and demanded an immediate halt to the vote-tallying process.

But the Independent Election Commission said it would continue its job and denied to stop the vote-tallying process.

Of more than 20 lawmakers from eastern provinces, eight addressed a press conference in Kabul, saying they supported Abdullah’s demands.

One of them Maulvi Shahzada Shahid, a lawmaker from eastern Kunar province, said some IEC workers had committed widespread fraud during the runoff election.

He said IEC Secretary Ziaul Haq Amarkhel had worked in favour of a particular candidate and he should be removed from his post.

“The IEC and Amarkhel did partial acts which pushed Afghanistan’s fate into an unknown side,” Shahid said and warned if Abdullah’s demands were not considered, they would launch a civil disobedience movement.

Nangarhar lawmaker Haji Hazrat Ali echoed Shahid’s remarks and alleged that widespread fraud had taken place during the second round of the presidential election. “The ballots should be investigated by a UN team and we have no trust in the government and IEC.”

The warning comes as the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) is busy investigating complaints registered with it about alleged fraud and other irregularities during the election. The watchdog is yet to announce the outcome of its findings.

ma/mud

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