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KABUL: In the wake of ongoing anti-fraud demonstrations, a large number of supporters of top electoral teams have staged marches on the streets of western Herat province, calling on the Independent Election Commission to nullify the 300, 000 votes, which they claimed are not transparent.
Ali Ahmad Osmani, a member of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah’s electoral team has once again accused the IEC of working in favor of President Ashraf Ghani’s team, saying that they would not allow the commission to mislead the election process.
Meanwhile, Shahpoor Popal, a member of the parliament, who was among the protestors said that they would continue demonstration until the commission, met their demands.
It was said that the demonstrations were jointly launched in front of the governor’s office in the province by supporters of the two major presidential candidates; Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
In addition to cancellation of a large number of votes, the protestors demanded that over 2, 400 polling centers should be declared invalided as well.
They called on the international communities and security forces to hold their neutrality in the election tensions. “Those, who committed fraud, should be prosecuted,” said a protestor.
But the IEC has announced that before the completion of recounting process, the commission would not nullify these votes.
This comes as hundreds of supporters of Abdullah’s team have earlier staged demonstration against the IEC in capital Kabul and the northern provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Faryab, Parwan, Panjshir, Jawzjan, Ghor, Sar-e-Pul, Nangarhar, Kapisa, and Badakhshan provinces.
Talking in a gathering last Friday, Hekmatyar said that he would stand against fraudulence and defend the people’s clean votes.
Thousand of Afghans on September 28th dared high security threats and take part in the election, casting their votes to decide about their country’s future. But recent chaos has brought great concerns in regards as the IEC has not been able to rebuild trust about the ongoing process.
