TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): Dozens of supporters of a failing female Wolesi Jirga candidate on Monday staged a protest demonstration in this capital city of central Uruzgan province, accusing the local election body of electoral fraud.
Four days ago, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced preliminary results from the Oct 20 Wolesi Jirga elections of five provinces, including Uruzgan.
The results show Bismillah Jan Mohammadi, Qudratullah Rahimi and Anoshka Barakzai have won seats in the lower house of parliament.
But supporters of a losing female candidate Gulalai Mohammadi protested in Tirinkot and accused the IEC of fraudulently reducing the number of votes for Gulalai against her rival candidate Barakzai.
One of the rally organizers, Abdul Bari Bawar, told Pajhwok said the rival candidate had collected less than 400 votes, but she was declared the winner with 737 votes.
He said they had enough evidence to prove the fraud of the rival candidate and they were ready to resort to violence in the defense of their votes.
Asadullah Pashtun, another protestor, also accused the provincial IEC office of committing fraud in favor of some candidates. He asked the IEC to separate fake and real votes.
The protestors warned if their voices were not heard, they would wage a protest movement and would also boycott the presidential election.
Pajhwok tried to seek comment from the provincial IEC office, but could not succeed.
However, a day earlier, IEC chief Abdul Badi Sayyad told a press conference that the results announced were preliminary and if anyone had any complaint, they could move the IECC.
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