Simultaneous elections idea flopped: Sadat

KABUL, the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) chief said on Thursday.

Abdul Sattar Sadat said two simultaneous elections should not be repeated in future in order to prevent large-scale rigging.

He told reporters in Kabul fraud incidents would have been less if the presidential and provincial council (PC) elections had been conducted separately.

Sadat said the complaints’ investigation process had been completed in a transparent manner and justice had been largely done.

He blamed delays in investigation into complaints on lack of cooperation with the watchdog from the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

The provincial council elections were held simultaneously with the first round of presidential election on April 5.

The announcement of results from the provincial council election was delayed due to the disputed second round of the presidential vote.

Around 2,600 contenders, including 308 women, contested the council elections.

nh/ma

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