Apprehensions about possible interference in the elections led civil society groups on Monday to reemphasize that the independent bodies overseeing the elections have a responsibility to preserve the integrity of the process.
The civil society representatives called on the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to provide details on its decisions to cut 16 Presidential candidates and nearly 400 Provincial Council hopefuls from the preliminary list it released last Tuesday.
Last week a number of the disqualified candidates and civil society activists criticized the IEC's disqualifications and questioned the methodology it used in determining what candidates were eligible to run in the spring. Some of the aggrieved would-be candidates went so far as to suggest the IEC's decisions were politically motivated.
"The documents of candidates cut from the preliminary list should be reviewed, and until now, the Election Commission hasn't shared the reasons for the cuts it made," said Hayatollah Hayat, the head of the CSCC.
The night of the preliminary list announcement, the IEC said that the main reasons for the cuts were that candidates either failed to meet the application standards – like providing 100,000 supporting voter cards – or they possessed dual-citizenship, which prohibited them by law from running. Still, however, this explanation has proven insufficient as candidates and civil society continue to demand more details.
Although security issues ahead of the spring vote are a top priority for many Afghan officials, the credibility of the elections is the overriding anxiety. As the first Presidential vote in which Hamid Karzai will not compete, and ocurring the year coalition troops withdraw, April is highly anticipated and expected to be a pivotal moment for the country.
"There are those who intend to sabotage the election process and they should be prevented from doing so," said Ms. Khatera Ishaqzai, the head of the Civil Society Cultural Affairs Center.
The IEC has said that disqualified candidates have the right to appeal the Commission's decisions through the challenging process of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). But ECC officials have also admitted that such challenges would be treated as a secondary priority during its review of complaints lodged against candidates who did make the cut last Tuesday.