Khost City (Pajhwok): Representatives of civil society organisations in southeastern Khost province on Sunday accused the Independent Election Commission of being pliant and unfair.
At a gathering, civil society organisations, religious scholars, tribal elders, provincial council candidates and ex-mujahideen blamed the commission for betraying the public trust.
Before the elections, Mujahideen Islamic Council Qari head Abdul Wali Adel recalled, the commission would say that people would set the future direction of the country, “but now the public is disillusioned.”
A number of participants criticised the presidential runners for not respecting people’s votes and agree to set up a national unity government in disregard of democratic principles.
Religious scholar Maulvi Aminullah Amin said the national unity government would be in the national interest if there was no secret deal behind it.
He called on both teams not to create problems and respect the decision of the electoral commissions.
A number of other participants called on IEC to announce final results of provincial elections as soon as possible.
Provincial council contestant, Eng. Hakim Wali Sharafat, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had waited four months for the final results.
“This long delay paved the ground for rigging and fraud, which has resulted in a huge change in the number of our ballots,” he lamented.
Representing other candidates, Sharafat warned if the results were not announced transparently, they would stage big protests.
There were 62 runners for the provincial council in the 5 April elections. Of them 15 were announced winners based on preliminary results.
ra/mud
