IEC decision on Ghazni termed ‘discriminatory’

KABUL (Pajhwok): A number of residents of southern Ghazni province on Wednesday said electoral districts in the province should be created in a way that no ethnic group’s rights were violated, otherwise there would be protests.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on June 25 announced dividing southern Ghazni province into three separate electoral constituencies for the upcoming elections.

The decision to divide Ghazni into separate constituencies came as protestors kept the provincial IEC seats allotted for Ghazni had been divided into three constituencies.

The Wolesi Jirga and district council elections are scheduled for October 20. Except Ghazni, all other provinces are single electoral constituency.

Ghazni becomes the first province to be divided into separate constituencies for the Oct 20 Wolesi Jirga and district council elections.

The IEC recently announced the initial list of Wolesi Jirga candidates, but there was no one among them from Ghazni because the IEC office had been closed there.

Enayat Naser, a resident of Qarabagh district of Ghazni, told a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday that they had previously suggested the IEC to divide Ghazni into 11 constituencies, but the commission rejected it.

“Unfortunately we were informed two days ago that a discriminatory decision had been made behind closed doors and in our absence. They divided Ghazni in three constituencies the way which violates the rights of two ethnic groups out of three.”

Naser did not provide more details about the IEC decision and said that constituencies in Ghazni had been divided based on the province’s geography instead of ethnic groups.

“If this decision is not changed, we will stage civil movements and close the IEC gate in Kabul and Ghazni and stop election affairs in Ghazni,” he warned.

Ahmad Bilal Wajid Rahimyar, another resident of Ghazni, said that the IEC decision regarding Ghazni violated the rights of Pashtun and Tajik ethnic groups the way their rights were violated in last elections when all 11 representatives of the province were elected from a single ethnic group, Hazara.

Rahimyar said second vice-president, Mohammad Sarwar Danish, had influenced the IEC decision using his authority in the government. He said Danish tried to again elect all representatives of Ghazni only from Hazara tribe.

The IEC spokesman on Tuesday said that the decision regarding Ghazni had been made in consultations with Mohammad Sarwar Danish and with agreement of his views.

However, the second VP office rejected the claim and said Danish had no influence over the IEC and he had not advised the IEC about the move.

Sayed Hafizullah Hashemi, secretary and spokesman of the IEC, said all commissioners had been present in the making of the decision about constituencies in Ghazin province.

Some commissioners supported two constituencies and others supported three, but finally the IEC reached agreement over dividing Ghazni into three constituencies, he said.

He did not provide more details about the decision and said the election schedule would be announced in near future.

mds/ma