On the day it released the preliminary list of candidates for the spring elections, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) indicated that one of the reasons candidates would be disqualified from running was because they held dual-citizenship. IEC officials added that the nationality vetting process was one of the reasons the release of the list was delayed three-days.
IEC officials said candidates had sworn during the nomination filing process that they were genuine Afghan nationals and not citizens of any other country. Yet with 16 of the 26 Presidential candidates cut on Tuesday, it was apparent that many of the contenders had not been entirely honest about their status of nationality.
Those who were disqualified included Bismillah Shir, Fazl Karim Najmi, Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai, Sayed Ishaq Gilani, Sarwar Ahmadzai, Hamidullah Qadiri, Daoud Sultanzoy, Aziz Ludin, Anwar Ahadi, Salman Ali Dostzada, Farooq Azam, Khadija Ghaznawi, Nader Shah Ahmadzai, Abdul Hadi Dabir, Noor Rahman Liwal and Dawar Nadin.
IEC officials did not shed light on each individual case, but said that all were either cut because of a failure to properly meet the 100,000 supporting voter cards threshold or because they held dual-citizenship.
Although Qayyum Karzai made the preliminary list released by the IEC on Tuesday, his Second Vice President running mate Mohammad Ibrahim Qasimi was eliminated due to his holding Canadian citizenship.
During the vetting process that began on October 7, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) investigated each candidate's nationality and provided detailed information about cases of dual-citizenship to the IEC.
"Although the election candidates confirmed their Afghan nationality, the IEC still demanded further information about the dual nationality of election candidates," said Sareer Ahmad Barmak, an IEC Commissioner. Remarking on MoFA's findings and the impact they had on the candidate list, Barmak said, "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will answer to the people of Afghanistan and not the Election Commission."
Law experts emphasized that candidates should have abandoned their foreign nationalities before registering.
"What is important is that the election candidate should only have Afghan citizenship to contest in the polls, and if a candidate has a foreign nationality then he should have quit before registering at the Election Commission," said law expert Nasrullah Estanikzai. "If a candidate was amongst the election candidates with a foreign nationality then the IEC should cut his name from the list."
It is likely that greater foresight on the part of Presidential hopefuls with dual-citizenship would have saved the IEC and MoFA a significant amount of time during the vetting process, and perhaps prevented the announcement of eligible candidates from being delayed three-days.