Election observers on Wednesday criticized the Attorney General for not being able to make a decision on complaints filed during the parliamentary elections in Badakhshan, saying 15 months have passed since the parliamentary elections were held without the AGO addressing them.
Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections were held on October 20, 2018.
After the election, a number of candidates from Badakhshan filed complaints, accusing the IEC of widespread fraud.
A number of election watchdog organizations have said the parliamentary elections were riddled with fraud, including embezzlement.
Yousuf Rashid, head of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA), said that the legal and judicial institutions have tackled the process politically, and such action will decrease people’s trust in legal and judicial organizations.
“The case should be referred to the court so that the courts take a decision regarding the issue, based on law,” added Rashid.
Sughra Saadat, a member of the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA), said: “We believe that if the cases are pursued correctly, the results will be changed in a way without unprecedented.”
Meanwhile, Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) said that the politicization and poor management caused the delay in corruption claims’ assessment, especially in Badakhshan province.
“The cases that we have seen weren’t investigated impartially or in a timely manner … they were dealt with politically,” said Nasir Tamori, a researcher at the IWA.
Answering critics, Jamshed Rasouli, spokesman for the AGO, said that the office has sent the case to the court, but the court rejected it because of lack of evidence.
“The court demanded more information, and we are investigating the case again. A delegation is assessing the case, we will send the case to the court for a legal proceeding once the investigations are wrapped up,” added Rasouli.
The complaints from the past parliament election consisted of a fraudulent increase and decrease in the number of votes of some of the candidates.
“This is a violation of the law. It is corruption. We have such cases in the courts and in the AGO we see similar situations,” said Abdul Subhan Misbah, deputy head of Afghanistan's Lawyers Union.