HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Some residents on Wednesday claimed wide-spread rigging took place in recent 20 Wolesi Jirga elections in western Herat province and asked the Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC) regional office to serious probe the irregularities.
The residents also asked IECC regional officials not to come under pressure from powerful individuals while investigating complaints about electoral offenses.
Bashir Ahmad, a resident of the Herat city, told Pajhwok Afghan News the complaints commission to act per the law and should not come under pressure.
Ghulam Sarwar, another resident, said all people knew the elections were rigged and ballot boxes stuffed in favor of little known candidates. He said the IECC must address all complaints in this regard.
A number of other residents expressed similar views and urged the IEC and IECC to address people woes.
Ghulam Habib Hashimi, a member of the provincial council, said if the IECC did not pay attention to people’s complaints, the people would no longer trust it.
Meanwhile, Fatima Baqiri, IECC head for Herat province, assured the people that all complaints would be looked into. She said so far 800 complaints had been registered with the commission.
