Article 13 (1) (5) of the Electoral Law requires that an officer in the civil service resign from her/his position before registering as a candidate. Subsequent to the announcement of the final list of candidates for the Wolesi Jirga election, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has received complaints alleging that certain candidates did not resign from their positions on time. Having investigated these complaints the ECC has ruled that certain candidates did indeed not resign as required and were therefore ineligible to register as candidates. Some of these names have been announced previously and a further fourteen (listed below) are announced today. The ECC has instructed the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to note the names of the candidates in question:

1. From Baghlan: Ghulam Sarwar Hobab
2. From Parwan: Roshna Khaled
3. From Parwan: Sayed Abdul Razaq
4. From Parwan: Abdul Hai
5. From Kunduz: Alhaj Imam Qul
6. From Paktya: Simin Akbari
7. From Paktya: Hai Gul Sulimankhil
8. From Helmand: Haji Mahbob Shah
9. From Helmand: Haji Ghulam Hassan
10. From Kabul: Dagarwal Mohammad Yusuf
11. From Kabul: Suraya Faizi
12. From Kabul: Dr. Abdul Khalil Khakzad
13. From Kabul: Gen. Aminullah Amerkhil
14. From Kabul: Ihsanullah Barakzai

It is important to mention that:

1. Prior to the publication of the final list of candidates by the IEC, the ECC ruled on challenges regarding the non-resignation of candidates from civil service positions and decided to remove 24 candidates from the final list.

2. There are still complaints pending at the ECC regarding the late or non-resignation of some candidates from civil service positions. These cases are under investigation and the ECC will issue decisions in due course.

3. Since the IEC announced the preliminary and final lists of candidates for the Wolesi Jirga elections, the ECC has removed from the list of candidate and disqualified from candidacy 76 candidates in these elections.

Electoral Complaints Commission