KABUL - The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), one of Afghanistan's largest election monitoring organizations, has accused the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) of negligence in its investigations of electoral fraud during the first round of this year's presidential election.
The accusations came in the form of a five page report released on Tuesday, just under two weeks before the Afghans head to the polls for the runoff round between Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
"In the report, we have focused on three important points: the first issue that we noticed is that cases of fraud and rigging weren't investigated accurately, the second issue is that the ECC made decisions on electoral complaints behind closed doors, and thirdly, the ECC illegally extended the timetable for its provincial headquarters," FEFA spokesman Mohammad Fahim Naeemi said.
FEFA has said that the ECC must conduct all complaint investigations openly for the sake of transparency and fairness during the runoff. The monitoring organization urged the commissioners to follow-up information regarding fraud more diligently than they did in the first round.
"In the second round, when the ECC investigates electoral complains, it must be conducted openly, and decisions must be made on the basis of documents and evidence, and they must be shared with the people and the candidates," Naeemi added.
During the first round in April, a number of presidential candidates, including the two runoff rivals, raised concerns about the ECC and its complaint investigations. Both candidates at one point or another accused the ECC of negligence.
Responding to the FEFA report on Tuesday, ECC spokesman Nadir Mohseni defended his office and accused FEFA of lacking substantiation for its claims.
"Our FEFA friends only know the art of questioning the job of an organ without documents and evidence, the ECC conducts its work openly in front of the Afghan people," ECC spokesman Nadir Mohseni said.
The FEFA report warned that the ECC risks harming the credibility of the election if it does not take steps to correct the mistakes made during the first round. (Tolonews)