ECC to Assess Complaints In Front of Media Next Week

Nadir Mohseni, the spokesman of the Electoral Complaints Commission
(ECC), said on Wednesday that next week its process for the assessment
of complaints filed against Presidential and Provincial Council
candidates would be open to the media.

The ECC began gathering materials for its complaints review process on
Saturday, but still hasn't received all the complaints registered in
provinces outside Kabul. Although on Tuesday the Complaints Commission
said they had gotten the complaints from 18 of the provinces, others
remained stuck in satellite offices outside of the capital.

Reportedly, security issues were behind the delay in complaint
document transfers.

Mohseni also announced on Wednesday that the number of complaints
registered to the ECC had increased. He said 642 complaints, up from
the previous 474, had been documented. Of those, 27 are related to
Presidential candidates, he said.

The ECC spokesman suggested that based on the complaints gathered so
far there would likely be changes to the preliminary list of
candidates that was announced by the IEC last Tuesday.

The preliminary list of candidates saw 16 Presidential and nearly 400
Provincial Council contenders eliminated. The drastic cuts were not
well-received by those who didn't make the list and speculations about
mistakes in the Independent Election Commission's vetting process and
potential political bias have abounded ever since.

Many of the speculations suggesting a flaw in the IEC's evaluations
were based on the lack of transparency about the process, which is why
the announcement of the ECC on Wednesday stating that the media would
be welcomed to observe their review of complaints will be welcomed
news.

However, the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA)
was still frustrated they had been denied access to the early stages
of the ECC's review process.

"They don't allow us to monitor the preliminary evaluations of the
Electoral Complaints Commission," said Mohammad Fahim Naeemi, the
spokesman of FEFA. "In think has a bad impact on the election and
transparency of the process."

A number of MPs on Wednesday also voiced concerns about the IEC and
ECC's processes and indicated that Parliament would be keeping a close
eye on them.

The April 5 elections are considered crucial in determining
Afghanistan's future at the daunting juncture presented by both the
departure of President Hamid Karzai from office and coalition forces
from the country after over ten years in the driver's seat. And the
legitimacy of the elections and their outcome, or at least the
perception of it, is regarded to be the crux of their success.