KABUL - At least 90 candidates for Provincial Councils PCs were summoned to the Electoral Complaint Commission (ECC) on Sunday due to false educational documents or degrees, just two days before the provincial campaign is set to start.

The commission officials warned candidates that they will be disqualified from the final list if the commission proves there were mistakes in their education documents. Candidates complained that the commission’s warning is coming too late as they have already spent money on their campaigns.

Nader Mohsini, the ECC spokesman, said that although most of the candidates have given valid documents, there are still some candidates who did not complete correct documents. The provincial campaign is due to start on Tuesday, March 4, and will last for one month.

“The candidates will never get to the final list if we find that candidates gave fake documents, or they purchased documents or they do not have documents,” Mohsini said.

A number of candidates criticized the commission for alerting them too late regarding the validity of their documents, arguing they have already spent money and started preparing their campaigns.

“The decision is completely late, because the candidates have spent their budgets, they have printed posters and paid for provincial offices,” said Paktia candidate Mohammad Sharif Sarhadi.

“I have printed posters for the cost of 53000 Afghanis, who will pay me back if I am disqualified by the ECC?” Kunduz provincial candidate Asila Barakzai said.

The ECC announced on February 28 that recent investigations show that documents provided by over 400 provincial council candidates have authenticity or completion issues. (Tolonews)