MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok):  Pajhwok Afghan News on Wednesday constituted another election monitoring network representing journalists and civil society activists in northern Afghanistan ahead of Saturday’s presidential and provincial council polls.
Creation of the network “Election Observation by Afghans” was announced at the end of an informative seminar through the Afghanistan Northern Journalists Association in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province.
Sixty people, including reporters, civil society activists and election observers nominated by candidates, took part in the workshop to become members of the panel.
Pajhwok correspondent in Mazar-i-Sharif, Zabihullah Ihsas, said the network aimed to share information regarding fraud attempts, law violations and other irregularities during the elections.
The participants were informed how to establish contacts through phone, SMS (Short Message Service), Facebook, Twitter with www.afghansvote.af, Pajhwok’s independent webpage tracking cases of fraud during elections.
Ihsas said the news agency wanted to collect information about possible irregularities during the landmark elections through the network.
Gulab Shah Bawar, a member of the journalist association and participant of the seminar, said he was happy to be part of efforts at ensuring transparent elections.
He believed the people of Mazar-i-Sharif would cooperate and help Pajhwok collect information about possible fraud attempts in the elections.
Hajira, another member of the network, said they would try to gather and share information about illegal activities during the elections with www.afghansvote.af. She said their network would keep the webpage updated through SMS.
This is the second election observation network to be established by Pajhwok in Balkh, where a 15-member civil society group had already started monitoring the election process.
A day earlier, Pajhwok organised a workshop on the elections at its main office in Kabul. Prominent journalists and civil society activists attended the informative workshop.
The participants were briefed on activities, including news, photos and video clips published on www.afghansvote.af to encourage people’s participation in the elections and report attempts at manipulation.
The site offers all people the opportunity to share their reports, articles, photos, ideas and videos about the polls. Via social media, the news agency aims to enable people to share information regarding the ballot.
One key objective is to give due coverage to popular perceptions about the democratic exercise, rigging, fraud and other anomalies in far-flung areas. PAN seeks to evolve a credible mechanism for forging coordination among election monitors and observers.
Pajhwok also intends to establish an online information centre for international monitors and researchers.
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