Foreigners could not help end crisis: MPs

KABUL members on Saturday said foreigners could not resolve the political crisis and they should not be allowed to meddle in the country’s electoral process.

The political crisis surfaced after one of the two presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah accused some election commission and government officials of fraud during the June 14 presidential runoff election.

Abdullah suspended cooperation with the two electoral bodies and demanded an immediate halt to the vote-tallying process.

To resolve the impasse, the UN, the EU and the US have launched their efforts.

Lower house member from southeastern Paktika province, Nadir Katawazai, told the house that foreigners could not find any solution to the electoral crisis and they should not be allowed to interfere.

“We trust our electoral bodies. These foreigners cannot resolve our problems instead they will exaggerate the problems,” the lawmaker believed. “If we lose faith in the future president, would we urge foreigners to come again and resolve this problem?”

Katawazai called on the two presidential candidates to respect decisions of the electoral bodies and save the country from the existing problems.

His colleague from northern Kunduz province Shukria Paikan also believed foreigners could not resolve the electoral crisis, which she said the election commission should resolve in line with the relevant laws.

She said results from the runoff election should be announced on schedule so that people’s concerns in this regard could be addressed.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has delayed the release of preliminary results until Monday, citing additional audit of votes cast at nearly 2000 polling sites.

Paikan also said some individuals had threatened the IEC to announce the results, saying such threats could not change the outcome but would create more problems for the Afghans.

Lawmaker from Kunduz Fatima Azizi said it was a matter of concern that foreigners had arrived in Afghanistan to help resolve the country’s electoral standoff.

“When we have rejected the inclusion of two foreigners in the Electoral Complaints Commission, then why we are resolving our problem through outsiders,” she said.

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