KABUL (Pajhwok): The presence of government officials in presidential candidates’ electioneering and their support for candidates on social media has created concerns for the people and election oversight institutes.
Presidential election campaigns began across the country on Sunday and will last two months.
Eighteen individuals including Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah are in the run for the September 28 election.
Appearance of government officials in election campaigns
Salahuddin Rabbani, acting foreign minister, attended an electioneering program of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday, the first day of presidential candidates’ campaign.
Feridoon Khwazaoon, a spokesman to Abdullah, said that Rabbani was the leader of Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan party and he attended the program on behalf of his party.
He said no other government official, except Rabbani, had participated in the event.
However, he said some officials participated in the electioneering programs of some other presidential candidates. But he provided no details in this regard.
Mujib Rahman Rahimi, a spokesman of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), also shared photos of Abdullah’s electioneering program on his Facebook page on Sunday.
Painda Hikmat Safi, an advisor to Abdullah, in a Facebook post while pointing to Abdullah, said, “We are grown among people, stay with them and would work with them.”
Ghani supporters’ propaganda against Abdullah
Shah Hussain Murtazavi, an advisor to President Ashraf Ghani, in a post on his Facebook page, said, “Abdullah is a person who works only one day in a week, travels to India on Wednesdays, returns on Sundays, holds cabinet meetings on Mondays and gets preparations for traveling back to India on Tuesdays.”
Javid Ahmad Ghafor, a spokesman of High Peace Council (HPC), on his Facebook page said, “Abdullah has no plans and instead he criticizes the president, he has no words for saying, he would say only negative things but he does not know that he has a 50 percent share in the government.”
TEFA concerns
Mohammad Naim Ayubzada, head of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) said, “Our observation form the election campaigns shows that a large number of senior and junior government officials participate in campaigns using government resources.”
“It is a serious concern for us, if the situation continues, people would lose trust in the results of election and create mistrust among candidates,” he said.
Ayubzada said participation of officials in Ghani and Abdullah’s events on Sunday and their comments about the candidates on social media were electoral violations.
The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) should act against the violators under the law.
“Election commissions can press candidates not to bring government officials to their campaigns,” he said. The commissions should act immediately and not allow further violations, he added.
Mohammad Zaman, a resident of Kabul city, said, “I don’t know if this is an election campaign or a battlefield between spokespeople of candidates on social media.”
He said government workers and spokesmen of government departments should be neutral about elections.
Addressing a Cabinet meeting today, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah said government workers were responsible to work for people and had no right to campaign for a specific candidate.
Talking to ministers and other government officials, he said, “You have to continue your work according to the law until the end of the national unity government’s term, no one should work against or in favor of any candidate.”
The IECC on July 27 asked candidates to observe all electoral rules and regulations during their electioneering.
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