Afghan ECC adjudicates 70% of serious electoral complaints

The commissioner and spokesman of the Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Thursday said that the body has adjudicated over 70 percent of serious complaints of the country's second parliamentary voting held on September 18 this year.

"The ECC has adjudicated almost 70 percent of more than 2,500 of electoral complaints which have been triaged and categorized as group (A) or serious allegations that would affect the results at polling stations level," Ahmad Zia Rafat told a press conference here.

According to Rafat, a total of 5,971 complaints have been registered with the ECC since the beginning of voting on September 18 till October 24, the last day of receiving election related complaints and allegations.

The complaints registered with the ECC, according to the official, include using state machinery, influencing election workers at polling stations, stuffing ballot boxes illegally, double voting, vote-rigging and using faked voting cards.

"Following investigations into received complaints, the ECC has invalidated ballots in certain polling centers affecting 36 polling stations in seven provinces including Kabul province," he announced.

Meantime, he said any candidates affected by these decisions have three days to appeal.

Allegations containing class (B) if proved cannot affect the results and the remaining part or class (C) of the complaints does not need further investigation, Rafat emphasized.

Over 2,500 candidates, with some 400 of them women, had contested the voting to secure seat in the 249-seat Afghan Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament.Preliminary results were announced on October 20 by the election body -- Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Final results of Afghanistan's second legislative elections since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, due on two weeks, would not be announced until all the allegations and complaints are adjudicated.

Source:Xinhua