Political parties display thousands of fake IDs with voting stickers

Political parties on Saturday accused national unity government and electoral commissions of committing widespread fraud in voter registration process.
The Grand Alliance of Political Parties displayed thousands of fake ID cards (Tazkira) and voting stickers, claiming that the presidential palace and electoral bodies are trying to engineer upcoming parliamentary election.
Members of the alliance warned on Saturday they would boycott the voting if their demands for changes in electoral system were not met. The political parties have been asking the government to change the voter registration process to one based on biometric, but The Independent Election Commission (IEC) says it’s to too late for the change since the electoral law has to be amended before any potential change in the system.
Members of the coalition said that they had collected the documents from all over Afghanistan, claiming that even photos of Former high ranking officials and lawmakers were stuck up on some of the ID cards. They also said that voting stickers were issued to some people ineligible for voting.
According to them, the documents were shared with them by people, even in some cases, by IEC employees.
Ahmad Zia Masoud, a member of the alliance and former vice president, said the political parties will stand against the government and IEC to prevent fraudulent election.
Lawmaker Hamayoun Hamayoun emphasized on their demands for changes in electoral system, saying only biometric registration and monitoring by political parties can guarantee transparency of the polling.
Meanwhile, IEC commissioner Hafizullah Hashimi rejected political parties’ accusations, urging relevant organizations to probe the allegations.
This comes as government has already announced 20 October as Election Day. IEC, however, earlier said that political parties demands are not practical, at least at this stage as voting is less than two months away.