Failed PC runners block Kabul-North road

PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Failed provincial council candidates and their supporters on Sunday rallied in northern Baghlan province, blocking the Kabul-North highway.

About 200 people carrying photos of election officials with cross marks on their faces assembled in front of the provincial Independent Election Commission (IEC) office here.

A failed PC candidate Noorullah Riazat said they had been expecting the IEC and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) would separate valid and invalid votes, but they did not.

He accused the two electoral bodies of announcing winners who suborned them.  “We want IEC and IECC officials to be brought to justice,” he said.

He claimed IEC officials had promised to remove corrupt candidates from the winners list if evidence was provided against them, but the officials did not act on the evidence they had been given.

Supporter of a candidate, Mohammad Nazer, Pajhwok Afghan News he and others had voted for a candidate of their choice but candidates grabbing most votes had been declared losers and others with fake votes announced winners.

There were 155 candidates who contested the April polls in Baghlan, with 15 of them, including three women, winning seats on the council.

Another PC candidate accused the governor of Baghlan of negligence and asked the government to remove him.

The protestors also blocked the Kabul-North highway, leaving hundreds of cars stranded on both the sides.

A passenger, Jamaluddin, who got stuck in traffic, said he was taking back home his patient from Kabul to Mazar-I-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, but the protest caused great inconvenience to passengers.

A week ago, a number of losing candidates in Kabul warned of blocking roads to the city if their problems were not met.

mds/ma

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