IEC rejects underage Senate nominee

TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): One month after election results were announced, the provincial council of central Uruzgan has so far been unable to elect its administration board.

Ten days after being sworn in, the new council chose a member as their senatorial candidate, but the nominee was rejected by the provincial Independent Election Commission (IEC), citing problems in his documents.

The elected Senate representative was Mohammad Zahir Naderi, who had collected five votes from the nine-member council.

IEC chief for Uruzgan, Abdul Hamid Sharifi, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had sent documents of Naderi to the main office in Kabul, but the documents were found to be forged and had been rejected.

He said under the election law, a senatorial candidate was required to submit his/her ID card and voter registration card with the provincial IEC office.

He said Naderi’s age was shown 32 years in his ID card and he fell short of the legal age to become a member of the Senate.

But Naderi then came up with a new ID card showing his age 36 years old, a reason the IEC headquarters in Kabul used to reject his papers, said Sharifi.

He said the IEC headquarters had ordered a fresh round of election for the Senate representative, but the council due to differences had been unable to elect a new Senate rep or the administration board.

“If two-thirds members of the council come together, we can hold elections under the law, but there has been no breakthrough,” he said.

Sharif accused the council members of switching loyalties in return for money in bribes and cutting underhand deals. He said they had thrice invited the council members to come and hold the elections, but they did not turn up.

Provincial council member Mohammad Hanif Hanifi confirmed the council was split over the issue of elections.

He said it remained unknown when the nine members would sit together to elect their administration board and the senatorial candidate.

On the other hand, the rejected Senate representative, Naderi, said he had won the election and was an elected senator.

He claimed his documents had been tampered with at the Ministry of Interior, but did not go into details.

Naderi said he was currently in Kabul and would leave for Uruzgan a few days later to participate in the administration board’s election.

Acting Uruzgan governor Amanullah Taimuri held both the council and the province IEC office responsible for the delay in election of the Senate representative and the administration board.

He said the provincial government remained impartial and was ready to extend all possible assistance to the provincial council in resolving their differences.

A civil society activist, Najibullah, said the administration board should be elected as soon as possible because a delay in this regard created problems for people.

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