A day after the decision to declare votes of Kabul parliamentary invalid, the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) and the Independent Election Commission on Friday said the decision will be reviewed.
The election commissions said in a joint statement that a meeting was chaired by the Second Vice President Sarwar Danish and attended by head of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General and election commissioners to address the problems raised after the announcement on Kabul votes.
According to the statement, in this meeting, it was decided that IECC should review its decision.
“It was decided that IECC will review its decision on invalidating Kabul votes and the two commissions will resolve their disagreements,” Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi, deputy spokesman for IEC, said.
The statement says that the two electoral commissions agreed to work jointly to resolve their disagreements around the parliamentary polls.
According to the statement, it has been decided that IEC should pass on all the information on votes cast using by using biometric system and also any other information as per IECC’s request and needs.
“We welcome any move that would lead to elections transparency,” MP Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj said.
Meanwhile, the electoral monitoring organizations reacted differently to the IECC decision on Kabul votes.
“The election commission no more has the ability to lead and manage elections process,” said Khalil Raufi, member of elections watchdogs union.
IECC on Wedneaday announced all Kabul votes invalid saying that the decision was made due to major fraud in the Kabul parliamentary elections.
The election commission then rejected the decision and said it was an illegal and political-motivated decision.
Some parliamentary elections candidates in Herat province on Friday asked electoral commission to announce Herat’s votes invalid.
“We want the votes cast without biometric should be invalidated in different areas particularly in Herat, Ghor and Badghis,” said Basir Ahmad Danishyar, a candidate.
“If there is no proper mechanism for separating the clean votes from the fraudulent votes, we want elections in Herat, likewise Kabul, to be held again,” said Ahmad Jawed Ziaratjaee, a candidate from Herat.
