Residents of southern Ghazni province say a delay in Wolesi Jirga election is unacceptable, demanding the polls should be held together with the presidential ballot.
The Wolesi Jirga (lower house) election was conducted on October 20 and 21 in 2018 across the country, except in Ghazni and Kandahar provinces, in the later it was held after a week.
Earlier, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced only the presidential vote would be held on September 28.
Previously, the panel planned to hold the provincial council and Wolesi Jirga elections together with the presidential vote in the southern province.
On Monday, a number of Ghazni residents, during a meeting in Kabul, said there was no hurdle to the much-delayed process and the polls should be held together with the presidential vote.
On behalf of the participants, Niaz Mohammad Amiri, a tribal elder, accused the government of considering the Ghazni people dead, but they were alive and wanted to exercise their rights.
He complained the Pashtun of Ghazni had been deprived of all facilities. “We have rendered sacrifices for the independence of the country, but we are deprived of election,” Amiri said.
Khial Mohammad Hussaini, another participant, demanded the lower house election in Ghazni be conducted together with the presidential ballot. Further delay in the Wolesi Jirga polls was unacceptable, he remarked.
“Karim Khalili, the HPC chairman, and 2nd Vice-President Sarwar Danish cannot make Ghazni a second Bamyan and ignore other ethnic groups. We are alive and will get our right,” he added.
“There is no impediment to the Wolesi Jirga election in Ghazni and the polls should be conducted as the preparations for the presidential ballot are in final stages,” they said in a resolution, which also stressed that the constituency-based polls should be conducted in Ghazni; otherwise they would stop activities of the provincial IEC, including the presidential election.
