KABUL (PAN): Many Afghans see foreign interference that undermined the presidential elections held on August 20, says a survey.

The survey in this regard conducted by Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) shows foreign interference was blamed for manipulating electoral process in Afghanistan.

The AREU media spokesman Syed Mohammad Shah told Pajhwok Afghan News they conducted the survey in Astalif, Qarabagh and Dasht-i-Barchi localities of Kabul on more than 200 people.

"Our findings show that Afghans hold international community responsible for fraudulent elections," he said.

He added the international community first backed the elections but then undermined its transparency by just looking at the outcomes rather than the process.

Shah added most of the interviewed people pledged their support for current elected government and promised to vote in the parliamentary elections as well.

Analysts found the findings as appropriate. A political analyst Abdul Ghafoor Liwal said delay in announcing election results for over three months was a result of foreign interference, which hurt the feelings of Afghans. "If Afghans are given assurances that such interferences would not take place in future, they would vote in next elections," said Liwal.

On August 20, over six million Afghans used their votes in the first round of presidential and provincial council elections. However, the presidential elections went to a second round as none of the 29 candidates obtained the magic figure of 50+1.

In the second round, Hamid Karzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah were the two leading candidates, but the latter quit the race and the Election commission declared the only candidate Karzai as the winner, forgoing a runoff poll.

ss/ma

 

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