KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) on Monday reiterated no candidate would be allowed to grab power through vote fraud.
IECC officials held out the assurance at a meeting with running mates of some presidential contestants in Kabul. Issues concerning a shortage of ballot papers and ballot stuffing were discussed.
Interference by government officials and campaigning beyond the deadline were among the complaints raised by vice-presidents, IECC officials added.
Running mates of Dr. Abdullah, Zalmai Rassoul, Gul Agha Sherzai and Qutbuddin Hilal attended the meeting. They urged the IECC to prosecute those who violated the election law.
For his part, the IECC Chairman Abdul Sattar Sadat said they would make public the decision in the presence of representatives of media and candidates after evaluating all complaints.
In response to a query, he confirmed receiving various fraud-related complaints but they had yet to start work on them. The scale of fraud was far more limited than in past polls, he observed.
Earlier, the IECC urged the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to advise the president to sack the Paktia governor, his spokesman and the Kandahar police chief on charges of campaigning for a specific presidential hopeful.
Aziz Aryafar, another IECC commissioner, said: “We will not count fake votes. We hope every registered complaint is based on proof.”
He added no one would secure presidential or provincial council seat through fraud or other irregularities in the election. His colleague, Paighambar Qul Doghan, also spoke on the occasion.
So far, more than 2,000 fraud complaints had been registered by the commission. The commission also urged candidates and people to file their complaints no later than 12:00 am tonight.
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