ECC briefs campaign staffers of 41 presidential candidates

15 Jul 2009

ECC briefs campaign staffers of 41 presidential candidates

KABUL - Bring us all your complaints about the electoral process directly – not through texts nor telephone calls.

This was the advice given today by the Electoral Complains Commission (ECC) to the campaign managers and staffers of the 41 candidates running for president in Afghanistan’s 20 August election.

The ECC’s three-hour briefing at Kabul’s Serena Hotel was attended by some 50 concerned campaigners. The ECC, through the non-government organization the International Republican Institute (IRI), had requested the 41 presidential candidates to send representatives each to its briefing.

This afternoon, not only the campaign staffers but also a presidential candidate, came to air his complaint. Candidate Zabidullah Ghazi Nuristani lamented the partiality of government officials and their staff, and called on the ECC to immediately remove government workers who are not impartial.

However, the ECC - which enumerated its election-period mandate to the participants – stressed that it could only disqualify candidates and remove their names from the list of people running in the elections.

“We have no authority to remove people from their public positions,” added Maarten Halff, one of the three ECC commissioners from the international community.

The ECC, led by chairman Grant Kippen, however, called on the participants to bring to its attention all electoral violations committed during the polling and during the counting of the ballots.

Polling violations could include ballot stuffing and corruption; while the ballot-counting period could see among other violations the commission of fraud and the misrepresentation of results for each candidate.

The ECC also announced that it is now publishing its decisions on individual cases online. The commission revealed that it had earlier “excluded” 56 candidates from participating in the upcoming elections after investigating and verifying the 302 cases it received during the candidacy-challenge period.

Meanwhile, IRI resident country director Shuvaloy Majumdar appealed to the presidential campaigners to at least copy-furnish the ECC with their complaints, instead of just bringing their complaints to the media and to the international community.

By Aurora V. Alambra, UNAMA

Website: Electoral Complaints Comission