KABUL (Pajhwok): Protesting candidates in northern Kunduz province on Monday termed the Wolesi Jirga elections in the province as massively rigged and rejected the results.
They warned of boycotting the upcoming presidential election and adopting an anti-government stance if their demands were ignored by the authorities.
Over 20 candidates in Kunduz City, the provincial capital, addressed a joint press conference and termed the lower house polls as rigged.
They alleged the provincial IEC head Rasoul Umar provided support to certain candidates.
They claimed the total votes cast in the province were 32,000 but in the results they had been counted 52,000, something they called questionable.
The candidates claimed the IEC head had counted invalid votes to ensure victory of certain candidates.
Pajhwok Afghan News earlier released a video clip in which Kunduz IEC head Rasoul Umar is admitting massive rigging by him.
Ninety persons, including nine women, contested the October 20 Wolesi Jirga polls in Kunduz province.
According to the preliminary results unveiled three days back, Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, Eng. Kamal Safi, Shah Khan Sherzad, Eng. Mohammad Din Hamdard, Mohammadullah Batash, Haji Mohammad Umar Khan, Fazal Karim Aemaq, Nelofar Jalal Kofi and Dr. Fatema Aziz have been elected the lower house.
Ajmal Shahpouri, another protesting candidate, said he had lost trust in the IEC and asked the president and the Chief Executive Officer to investigate election results of Kunduz and ensure that justice was done.
Ahmad Foulad Hamdard, another Wolesi Jirga candidate, said: “My two observers were killed on the Election Day and like them tens of others were killed but now the IEC is ignoring all these sacrifices and engineered the election results in favour of certain individuals.”
They also issued a resolution asking the president to ensure justice by invalidating all votes of Kunduz in line with article 94 clause 2 of the Election Law and pave the way for re-election in the province.