Despite the Independent Election Commission’s (IEC) emphasis on its employees being the subject of fewer complaints in the second round than they were in the first, according to the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Monday, election employees are the main focus of the complaints it has so far received.
ECC spokesman Nader Mohseni said in a press conference on Monday that out of the total 568 complaints his commission had received since polls closed on Saturday, 141 of them were directed against IEC staff. The ECC expects more complaints to be filed before the end of the official 48-hour window for their registration at midnight Monday.
In the first round, complaints against IEC employees ultimately resulted in the blacklisting of well over 5,000 of them.
“The less number of complaint doesn’t mean that the scale of fraud was less,” Mohseni pointed out. He added that most of the complaints received so far were from Kabul, but that more still needed to come in from provincial offices.
Meanwhile, the IEC has emphasized the fact that fewer total complaints have been filed following the runoff, and also less regarding IEC staff. IEC Chief Ahmed Yousuf Nuristani on Monday claimed only 29 complaints had been filed against IEC staff. He also stressed that nothing was certain until investigations are conducted.
“Complaints against IEC staff doesn’t mean fraud, it will be clarified after the investigations are completed,” Nuristani said.
The IEC has come under serious scrutiny since Saturday because of allegations against its Chief Electoral Officer, Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail. On Sunday night, presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah held a heated press conference in which he said he would not accept any results from the commission until Amarkhail is suspended from his position and investigated for fraud.
The accusations against Amarkhail emerged Saturday evening after Kabul Police Chief General Zahir Zahir said cars belonging to the senior election official were stopped leaving the election commission’s headquarters loaded with used ballots. Although the IEC Chairman has come to Amarkhail defense, an investigation into the incident by a joint commission comprised of IEC and Ministry of Interior (MoI) officials is expected.
Nuristani has repeatedly said that any accusations of fraud within the IEC should be backed up by evidence and submitted to the ECC.
According to the complaints commission, in addition to the 141 complaints registered against IEC employees, there are claims regarding the interference of security forces in the voting process, low quality dye, voter intimidation by candidates’ observers, repeated voting, underage voting and ballot box stuffing.
Once the ECC’s 48-hour window closes Monday night, officials have said it should take 10 days to review the complaints.
Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/iec-staff-again-focus-electoral-co...
