Omitting candidates linked to illegal militias welcomed

KABUL candidates on Wednesday welcomed the omission of parliamentary candidates spearheading illegal armed groups.

The Independent Election Complaint Commission (IECC) on July 1 announced that election candidates who commanded illegal armed groups would be removed from the candidates list.

Addressing a gathering, Syed Siddiuiq Ansari, head of the civil societies federation, said the IECC decision would take the elections toward transparency. He announced support  for the IECC.

Gen. Zalmai Wardak, a candidate in the upcoming Wolesi Jirga elections from Kabul, said the IECC decision if implemented would help restore the public trust in elections.

“We fully support the IECC decision and want all individuals who have been involved in land grabbing, murders and violation of basic human rights should be removed from the candidates list,” he said.

The issue of district council elections was also discussed at today’s meeting.

Earlier, the IECC had said the matter of district council elections had been handed over to the National Security Council because in 42 districts nobody had registered as candidate while in 120 districts no woman had registered as voter.

Ahmad Khan Muslim, a Wolesi Jirga election candidate, termed the delay in district council polls as against the law.

nh/ma