KABUL (Pajhwok): Six out of 13 presidential candidates on Sunday said they would not accept Saturday’s presidential election result for what they alleged widespread rigging by the ruling contenders.
Thirteen individuals contested the election amid tight security measures and threats from Taliban insurgents to attack polling stations.
Some of the presidential candidates who contested the election said the turnout was historically low while 9.6 million people had registered as voters across the country.
Nazari Piryani, a spokesman for presidential candidate Ahmad Wali Massoud, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday that only 1.5 million people voted in Saturday’s presidential election.
He said names of a large number of voters were missing from biometric devices at polling stations and many people claimed their names had been deleted.
Piryani accused the Independent Election Commission of paying the way for the State Builder electoral team, led by presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani. He also mentioned some other problems the election faced and said they would not accept the results.
Kifayatullah Mohammadi, who speaks for presidential candidate Abdul Latif Padram, also said the turnout was extremely low and the biometric system in most of polling centers did not work on the election day.
He said in some areas powerful individuals prevented people from voting. “Low turnout, security threats, lack of voter awareness are reasons the process is not acceptable to us.” He alleged the unity government and the Hezb-i-Islami leaders committed widespread fraud in the election.
Similarly, presidential candidate Inayatullah Hafeez secretary Inayat also told Pajhwok Afghan News that the election result would not be acceptable to them because of low turnout, security threats and mismanagement.
Presidential candidate Shahab Hakimi’s spokesman Nisar Ahmad Nisar said the majority of voters failed to exercise their right to enfranchise. “The election and peace talks were together and no one trusted the election because there was no awareness.”
He also refused to accept the election result.
Presidential candidate Noor Rahman Lewal said he would not accept the result and would declare his stance after the results were announced. He stopped short of going into details.
Yet another presidential hopeful Mohammad Hakim Torsan said he would not endorse the result because of low turnout and widespread irregularities.
Meanwhile, Gulbuddin Hekmayar’s electoral team said it would conditionally accept the presidential election result.
The group’s spokesman, Fazl Ghani Haqmal, said Saturday’s election was full of fraud, the biometric system was non-functional and people’s names had been deliberately deleted from voter lists.
He alleged the ruling candidates – President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah --- team committed huge rigging in the election. “The votes are not counted based on biometrics, we will not accept the result,” he declared.
Presidential runner Rahmatullah Nabil’s electoral team said they would accept the election results if complaints lodged about the election were effectively investigated.
Ahmad Ihsan Sarwaryar, who speaks for presidential candidate Faramarz Tamanna, said security incidents marred the election and people’s turnout.
He said despite widespread rigging by the ruling candidates, they would accept the result, urging the electoral bodies to act impartially.
Likewise, Nawroz Ali Haqjo, a spokesman for presidential candidate Syed Noorullah Jalili, said they were satisfied with the election and would accept the result.
“We did not saw any irregularities in the election and we call on other candidates to accept the result,” he said.
But presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s spokesman Faridon Khwazon told Pajhwok that people’s participation in the election was significant and security forces ensured security on the election day.
He said the election commission had been able to effectively manage the polls and it was hoped the commission would announce results after carefully investigating all complaints. He rejected their team members had committed fraud in the election.
Ahmad Javed Ghafoor, who speak for presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, said people’s participation was beyond expectation and they voted for the survival of the democratic system. “If someone has any complaint against us, they can move the electoral complaints commission.”
Independent Election Commission secretary Habib Rahman Nang said they could not say how many people cast their votes in the election until the votes were counted.
“Our technical teams are busy counting the votes, we will give the people an exact figure, but to say how many voted, it is premature.”
However, he said many people took part in the election and the turnout was acceptable to the electoral body.
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