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KABUL: Some of presidential candidates protested the recount of the September 28 polls, calling for the formation of an interim administration and a runoff in the polls.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is one of the candidates who insists on the interim government and the resignation of the government leaders.
Another candidate, Rahmatullah Nabil, said Monday that the election commission was forced by a certain electoral team to recount the polls.
Hekmatyar said Monday in a news conference that nobody would win the polls at the first round, demanding that the second round should be held by an interim government. He claimed that no candidate could secure the 50 per cent of votes to win the election because of a low turnout.
“The next poll needs to be held by an impartial government which will not be candidate and will be acceptable to all of the candidates. We need an interim government without which a transparent election will be impossible,” Hekmatyar said.
He accused the independent election commission of poor management, saying that the commissioners were not managing election.
Separately, the candidates’ council warned of an electoral crisis, asking the government leaders to step down and a new government should hold the next round of elections.
Ahmad Wali Massoud, one of candidates asked for trial of those accused of fraud-marked votes.
“Who has faked one million votes? Is he a fraudster or not? Is this a theft of people’s votes or not?”
Another candidate, Rahmatullah Nabil alleged that the election commission was under pressure by a certain electoral team to recount the polls, but he did not identify the “certain team”.
“I am aware that two commissioners are under severe pressure to recount the invalid votes,” said Nabil.
Presidential office has rejected Hekmatyar’s request, with Ghani’s spokesman Seddiq Sediqqi saying that such subjects were not mentioned in the constitution.
“The people of Afghanistan went to polls and voted for republic, our system will never cut. The people with less political knowledge have such demands. People do not want an interim government which is against the constitution.”
