Based on a recent decision undertaken by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), each runoff candidate would be provided a copy of the result sheet after voting ends.
In the first round of elections there were four copies of the result sheets, of which none was given to the presidential candidates. Originally, the result sheets were divided between the IEC headquarter, IEC provincial offices, the observers and pasted on the walls of polling centers.
However, in the runoff, the IEC has decided to distribute the copies pasted on the walls of polling centers and given to the observers to the presidential candidates.
IEC's initial decision to give only one copy among the two candidates was followed by major criticism from the candidates and the election observation institutions.
“After persistent consultations, IEC’s chief and nine of its commissioners decided to provide each candidate with a result sheet to ensure credibility and legitimacy,” IEC Commissioner Sarir Ahmad Barmak said.
Meanwhile, a number of election monitor organizations have accused the IEC of inconsistency and fraud warning them that this could create negative impacts on the election process.
“It seems as the members of the election commission do not have the capability of working independently,” former IEC Chairman Fazel Ahmad Manavi said. “I am not saying that the members of the commission do not do a wonderful job, I am just suspicious of the IEC's executive staff."
Furthermore, IEC's internal disagreements and contrary statements have been seriously criticized.
“There are some contrary statements within the election commission such as the IEC chief had said that they will disclose the names of the 5,000 staff that were found guilty of frauds, but never did,” former Chief of the IEC Secretariat Zekirya Barakzai said. "The IEC chief and one of his commissioners have even talked about the commission's internal disagreement in the media. These issues could undermine the entire electoral process."
This comes after roughly 5,000 IEC employees were replaced after being found guilty of frauds and. The IEC says that it has undertaken comprehensive measures for the runoff.
Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/iec-provide-candidates-runoff-resu...
