IEC toughens conditions for election candidates

KABUL) has laid down stricter conditions for candidate’s nomination in elections compared to the past, asking a nominee to collect finger prints and voter stickers from at least 1,000 people eligible to vote.

The conditions are set out according to the Articles 39, 40, 44, 51, 73, 74 and 75 of the election law by the IEC.

• Conditions for the Wolesi Jirga and District Council nominees for the October 20 elections are following based on the nomination procedure.
• Complete information of a Wolesi Jirga or district council nominee.
• A copy of school graduation certificate of a district council nominee.
• Completion of 25 years of age on the nomination day, applying for (Wolesi Jirga, provincial council and district council)

• Paying 30,000 afghanis as guarantee for contesting a Wolesi Jirga seat and 10,000 afghanis for a district council seat.
• Providing details about latest job and resignation letter approved by the relevant authorities in case of government jobs.
• Complete details about transferable assets such as cash money, vehicles, commercial goods, jewelries, precious antique items and livestock (inside and outside the country)
• Complete details about nontransferable assets such as residential properties, commercial properties and land (inside and outside the country)
• Providing copies of 1,000 Tazkira (identity cards) which are registered.
• Wolesi Jirga candidates should provide accurate and full information such as name, father’s name, province, district and the volume, page and registration of his/her Tazkira as well as the voter sticker numbers and finger prints of at least 1,000 people as verifiers of candidates in the registration form and then referring it to the IEC.
• If more than 35 percent of copies of verifiers Tazkira were used by two or more candidates, their nomination would be rejected following the IEC procedure.
• Provide accurate information about whether he/she is convicted or not.

• Provide proof with signature that he/she is not commanding and not a member of illegal armed groups.
• If any candidate is commanding or is a member of illegal armed groups, a special commission comprising representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) under leadership of Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC), would investigate claims and complaints and then decide on the matter.
• The candidates in initial list should present their candidacy cancellation before the announcement of final list, if they cancelled their candidacy before the given date or their names removed from the list by the IECC, their votes would be incalculable and the guarantee money would also not be refunded.

This comes as the previous election law and procedures lacked some of the above conditions such as providing accurate information about conviction, signature for being not a commander and member of illegal armed groups and finger prints of at least 1,000 eligible voters.

Sayed Hafizullah Hashemi, an IEC commissioner, said that the new procedure would help prevent fraud and entry of mafia figures in the Wolesi Jirga and district councils.

He said the IECC would collect people’s complaints and then decide about candidates before the final list of candidates was announced.

Yousuf Rashid, head of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), said that the conditions set by the IEC for candidates were not enough.

“The agreement candidates sign about their non-membership of illegal armed groups is passed through a process, but no one would say he/she is a member of a terrorist or mafia group.”

He said the public could play a major role in identifying candidates if they were part of illegal groups or mafia. The people could share their complaints with the IECC and the commission then could make a better decision, he concluded.

mds/ma