KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): Some protesting candidates from southeastern Khost province threatened to halt presidential elections in the province if the Independent Election Commission (IEC) ignored their demands.
Around 30 Wolesi Jirga candidates while addressing reporters here termed the October 20 elections as rigged and rejected the preliminary results announced by the election body.
Abdul Wali Wahidze, one of the protesting candidates, said all the votes from Khost should be recounted in the presence of national and international observers in order to separate genuine and fraudulent votes.
He warned that the relatively stable security situation came into being with the support of the people of Khost would deteriorate if their demands were ignored.
Ajab Gul, another candidate, said massive rigging took place in the favour of certain candidates on the Election Day.
He asked the IEC and Independent Electoral Complaint Commission (IECC) to recount the votes of all 182 polling stations in the presence of security and detective personnel.
Another Candidate Abdul Naseer Haqmal said IEC did not coordinate with IECC before the announcement of elections results which he termed unacceptable.
He added the IECC did not address the proof-based complaints regarding elections.
As a collective response, the protesting candidates warned to block the doors of local IEC and stage widespread protests if a positive response to their demand did not come from authorities within 24 hours.
Provincial IEC Head Shah Jahan Sardar said they were ready to recount all votes if directed by their central office.
nh

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Download “Pajhwok” mobile App, to read and access latest news, features, interviews, videos and photos about Afghanistan.