KABUL (Pajhwok): Losing provincial council candidates on Sunday alleged the April 5 vote had not been conducted in a transparent manner, paving the ground for mafia leaders and influential figures to make it to the provincial bodies.

Final results from the elections held seven months ago were announced a day earlier. The results show 458 candidates, including 97 women, had won seats on the provincial councils.

Hamida Wardak, a losing candidate in Kabul, said she would not accept the outcome announced by the Independent Election Commission IEC because real winners had been missing from the list of successful candidates.

She accused ‘suborned IEC officials’ of rigging the results in favour of influential and mafia-linked candidates.

Similarly, Hafizullah Barakzai, another unsuccessful runner in Kabul, alleged the IEC had failed to discharge its legal duties in accordance with the election law.

Razia Iqbalzada, a losing candidate in central Bamyan province, alleged IEC officials had sold votes to influential figures at polling stations. She said each vote had been sold for $ 10 to 20, claiming votes cast for her at a polling centre in the Shibar district were marked for her rival.

In northern Kunduz province, losing candidate Jamila Karimi said she was winner in preliminary results for collecting 1559 votes but now her name had been removed from the final list. She accused her opponents of influencing the results. Karimi announced contesting parliamentary polls.

Meanwhile, IEC chief Muhammad Yousaf Nuristani urged PC candidates to accept the results and respect the public mandate. He recalled more than seven million people had exercised their right to enfranchise in the provincial council elections, with women constituting 36 percent of them.

sks/ma