24 complaints registered so far: IECC

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) on Saturday said it had formally received 24 complaints about fraud and other irregularities so far.

Voting in the runoff presidential election began at 7am amid tight security measures and will continue until 4pam.

IECC spokesman Nadir Mohseni told reporters at 11:30am that they had so far registered 24 complaints.

He said the watchdog and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) had signed an agreement on availability of special forms for registering complaints at polling centres.

He said under the agreement, the IEC was bound to make available the forms and distribute them to people who wanted to register complaints.

Mohseni said they would access all the complaints, but these objections should have photos and videos proving authenticity of the allegations.

He said people could register their complaints against candidates, observers, IEC staff and others who they believed had committed fraud.

He also said IECC officials had received hundreds of complaints via the telephone but these complaints had not been registered because they were only meant at sharing information with the watchdog.

Mohseni said some complainants claimed the indelible ink was easy to be removed and others accused government officials and powerful individuals of interference in the electoral process. There were also complaints about ballot papers’ shortages, he said.

“The shortage of ballot papers before noon is unacceptable,” said Mohseni, who added people could register their complaints in Kabul and provinces until 48 hours beyond the voting time had finished.

He urged all election observers to stay at polling centres until the vote casting and tallying process was ended in order to ensure transparency.

No one has the right to stop someone from taking pictures and filming videos inside polling centres and those doing so would be booked, warned Mohseni.

He said the IECC was trying to assess all the complaints in the stipulated time, but change in the timeline would mean ensuring transparency and justice.

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