3,600 complaints filed about Afghan vote

KABUL - Afghanistan’s electoral watchdog said Tuesday it had received more than 3,600 complaints of fraud and irregularities since the Sep 18 parliamentary polls, with more than half of them serious enough that they could affect the results.

“Since election day, we received around 3,656 formal complaints from 34 provinces,” Ahmad Zia Rafat, spokesman for the government’s Electoral Complaints Commission, told a press conference.

Of that number, 1,622 or around 56 percent, were serious enough that they could affect the outcome, he said.

The Electoral Complaints Commission also received around 1,700 complaints about irregularities and electoral violations during the nearly three-month campaign.

Observers and candidates reported widespread irregularities and fraud, including ballot-stuffing by election workers, underage voting and double voting during the polling day.

This week, the Independent Election Commission, the body that conducted this month’s polls, ordered partial recounts in seven provinces due to suspicions of fraud. The provinces include Badakhshan in the north to Parwan in the central region and volatile Khost and Logar in the southeast.

More than 2,500 candidates, including 400 women, vied for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament. The election was also marred by widespread Taliban attacks. The militant assaults did not stop the balloting, but left around 30 civilians and military personnel dead.

The large number of complaints and the recount of the vote in several provinces could delay the result, which was originally set to be announced by the end of October.

Afghan and Western officials have praised the Independent Election Commission for conducting the polls amid spiralling insurgency, but said it was too soon to call the election a success.