As Afghanistan’s electoral bodies struggle with a flood of complaints over fraud in the Parliamentary elections, more and more candidates are raising their voices against the process.

Some of those who are in the running for seats in the legislature have warned that they will refuse to accept the final results if election authorities do not heed their objections.

The September 18 poll was initially hailed as a success; however, as the weeks go by more and more reports of fraud have surfaced. Over 4,000 complaints have already been received by the Electoral Complaints Commission, delaying the announcement of preliminary results by at least a week.

In addition, the ECC has ordered that ballots from 442 polling centers be annulled; a recount was ordered for an additional 828 centers. According to the Independent Election Commission, there were 5,897 centers open on Election Day.
 
“I have visual and written documentation proving that commanders and powerful candidates were stuffing ballots boxes in their favor,” Said Moeen Marastyal, a parliamentarian running to retain his seat in Kunduz.

“On the one hand, the Taliban threatened people to keep them from voting, and on the other hand local officials were forcing people to vote for the candidates they supported,” he said. “The elections were not free in Kunduz, because only 10 percent of the people cast their votes. Candidates from Kunduz have submitted 350 complaints along with evidence to the ECC but the body has not reacted yet.”

Lal Badshah Azmon, a candidate from Nangarhar province, also professes dissatisfaction with the ECC.

“I have officially submitted my complaint to the ECC,” he said. “The head of a polling center counted my votes in favor of another candidate. Similarly, influential individuals in Haska Mina district kept the polling centers closed during Election Day and filled the ballot boxes in favor of their own candidates.” 

Ahmad Zia Rafat Spokesperson for the ECC, told www.afghanistanvotes.com that the body has received more than 4000 complaints so far, of which 3500 have already been adjudicated. The ECC has divided the complaints into separate categories, based on whether or not the possible violation was serious enough to influence the outcome of the election. In cases where candidates are proven to have committed fraud, they may be disqualified from becoming MPs.

But candidates doubt that the election bodies are truly independent. In some cases, they insist that it was IEC staff and local officials who perpetrated the fraud. This has destroyed many candidates’ faith in the process.

Qamar Noori, a female candidate in Balkh province, is a case in point.

“Security was good in most districts of the province before the elections,” she said. “I was able to go to many of them. But two days before the elections, the situation deteriorated and those who were supported by local officials and powerful people were able to increase their number of votes.”

She now has lost hope that the election can be considered free and fair.

“Only power brokers and those who have money can come to parliament,” she said.

But ECC spokesman Rafat insisted that his organization would adjudicate all complaints fairly, and that there could be no interference in their work.
 
“The primary results will be announced on October 17, but the ECC will continue investigating complaints till October 22,” he said. “The investigation can change the results.”

Preliminary results were originally slated to be released on October 8; now many are skeptical that even the econd, later date can be met.

Fazal Ahmad Manawi, head of the IEC, rejected any hint of interference from the Afghan government of foreign entities in the IEC’s work.

“Some of the candidates who received votes in the polling centers where their ballots were annulled try to ban the IEC from taking such decision,” he said in a press conference in Kabul in early October. “But the IEC is not a political entity and works in favor of no one. Our decision is final and cannot be reviewed.”