Ballot stuffing in Ghani’s favor in Khost rejected

KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): Independent Election Commission (IEC) officials in southern Khost province on Saturday rejected ballot stuffing allegations in favor of a specific presidential candidate in the province.

Former Wolesi Jirga or lower house member Hamayon Hamayon alleged that some ballot boxes were stuffed on Friday night in favor of presidential candidate, Ashraf Ghani, in some districts of Khost.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News that ballot boxes in Spera, Musakhel, Bak, Sabari and Qalandar districts were stuffed in favor of Ashraf Ghani.

He said that Ghani’s observers suggested Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s observers to jointly stuff the ballot boxes.

However, Amir Hamzah, IEC head for Khost province, rejected the allegations as baseless.

Videos and documents about ballot stuffing published by Hamayon on social media were from the past election, he explained.

Faizullah, an observer of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Qalandar district of Khost, said that all candidates had observers at polling stations and every vote polled in a station was monitored by each of them. He also rejected allegations of ballot stuffing.

Haji Zahir, a tribal elder from Qalandar district, told Pajhwok that the election process was going normal in their area and they did not see any fraud.

Haji Rawan, a tribal elder from Musakhel district of Khost, said that polling sites were monitored by observers of all candidates and rigging was impossible. Some figures tried to defame the national process, he said.

Yusuf Mangal

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