MORE THAN 100 COMPLAINTS AGAINST AFGHAN CANDIDATES 20/5/09

source: quqnoos

Mercoledi' 20 Maggio 2009
More than 100 Complaints Against Afghan Candidates

www.quqnoos.com
Written by Hamed Haidary
Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Four days after the Electoral Complaints Commission is launched, almost 130 objections have been filed against the candidates

The objections criticize some of the runners of the elections for involvement in violating human rights and keeping illegal arms.

Most of the complaints are addressed to the candidates for the provincial councils, Fahim Hakim, a member of the Electoral Complaints Commission said.

The ECC official said the objections will be adjudicated and the ineligible nominators will not be allowed to run for the August elections.

"We've received complains on some of the candidates, but we still don't know that the existing 44 presidential candidates will remain in the final run or will be removed from the list of the contenders," Hakim said.

Previously, Halim Siddiqi, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said there are mechanisms in place for individuals and organisations to share such concerns with the complaints commission.

In the primary list of the candidates, 44 runners are listed for the presidential race and 3,324 for the provincial council elections.

The ECC will finalise the list of the candidates, then it will hand it over to the IEC in the next three and half weeks.

Meanwhile, Mr Hakim declared some of the candidates have already launched their campaigns, almost a month before the scheduled term, that starts on 16th June, 2009.

The IEC will legally treat those candidates who have begun campaigning for their nominations before the date, Mr Hakim added.