GARDEZ (Pajhwok): The election watchdog on Saturday said it would be unable to review complaints about electoral fraud in southeastern Paktia province due to a lack of cooperation from the Independent Election Commission (IEC).
Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) head for Paktia, Mohammad Bashir Bahram, told Pajhwok Afghan News they wanted to recount votes of suspect ballot boxes, but the IEC was yet to provide them a list of such boxes.
He said the IECC would not be able to investigate all complaints in two days left to complete the process.
A total of 78 complaints had been registered in Paktia, with 18 objections concerning presidential candidates, he said.
However, IEC provincial head Rahmatullah Haqmal said their main office in Kabul was to be blamed for the situation in Paktia, complaining they had not been delivered any list of quarantined ballot boxes by the IEC headquarters.
Observers in Paktia expressed their concerns about the vote count process and warned if votes were not tallied in a timely matter, it would amount to rigging.
“We are worried about an inordinate delay in the arrival of lists. We want the IEC to take steps in this regard,” said Mohammad Rahman Qadari, a provincial council candidate.
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