KABUL (Pajhwok): Election candidates have been visiting President Hamid Karzai at their own will and they were never invited to meetings, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.
Aimal Faizi told Pajhwok Afghan News a number of candidates had demanded meetings with the president. His remarks come after reports that presidential runners have been visiting the Presidential Palace to enter alliances.
A jirga in this regard has reportedly taken place and its members met with President Karzai a few days ago.
Faizi said the president had never invited any candidate to discuss with him the elections, but candidates had themselves demanded seeing Karzai.
He said the president respected all candidates and thus his agreement to meet everyone desiring so.
To a question, Faizi said President Karzai had not called on any presidential candidate to renounce his candidacy in favour of any particular rival.
All meetings between Karzai and candidates had taken place in line with the latter’s desire because the President believed the April elections were crucial and sensitive. However, Faizi did not name candidates individually meeting with Karzai.
But a spokesman for presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Fazl Rahman Orya, said several meetings had taken place between Abdullah and Karzai and there had been only one meeting wished by the former foreign minister.
He said the latest meeting between the two took place 25 days ahead of the launch of electioneering that started on Feb. 2.
When asked campaign workers for another leading candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in this regard, they said the meetings had been requested by the Presidential Palace.
One of them Abbas Noyan said Ahmadzai and Karzai held the latest meeting two days ago, but stopped short of going into details.
He said the previous meetings between the two had been about government’s efforts at ensuring necessary facilitates for holding the elections.
