ECC delays release of final candidate list

KABUL) said on Saturday.

Investigations into as many as 900 complaints were scheduled to be completed on Friday and the final list of contenders announced on Saturday (Nov. 16), but the process had to be set back for two days.  

Reda Azimi, the ECC deputy chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News their assessment would be over within two days, after which the list would be dispatched to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

“Most of contenders would have been deprived of their rights if complaints results had been announced today,” she argued. “In order to find facts, we need two more days to reach a fair decision.”  

The late submission of the preliminary list by IEC led to the delay in probing complaints, according to Azimi, who said they were awaiting replies from a number of government entities regarding contenders’ educational documents.  

She declined commenting on a change in the final list, but said most complaints had already been assessed.  

But ECC Secretary and spokesman Mohammad Nadir Mohseni recently said: “Probably a number of potential presidential contenders, who were not on preliminary list, will appear on the final list and vice versa.”       

As many as 3,082 contenders had filed nomination papers for the 2014 presidential and provincial council elections, with 368 disqualified by IEC.

Ten out of 26 presidential runners and 2,704 provincial council runners are on the preliminary list announced on 22 October. The elections are due to take place on April 5, 2014.

ra/mud