The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Saturday said that they had received a total of 16 complaints against candidates registered for either the Presidential or Provincial Council Elections scheduled for April. However, the ECC added that it was concerned that the absence of offices in provinces around the country could be preventing many local residents from submitting complaints.

The announcement comes the same day as the Independent Election Commission (IEC) failed to release the preliminary list of eligible candidates according to its self-imposed timeline. The IEC has said that it will publish the list on Tuesday instead. Whether or not the complaints process of the ECC had anything to do with the delay of the list release is unknown.

ECC officials expressed worries about the lack of provincial offices around the country, which they said could mean local residents are submitting the complaints that they otherwise would. They went on to explain that the only way complaints could be submitted from outside of Kabul was for complainants to send them via IEC provincial offices, which were expected to forward them on to the ECC headquarters in the capital.

"Based on a signed agreement between the IEC and ECC, the IEC committed to safely sending the registered complaints via its provincial offices to the ECC center in Kabul," explained Nader Mohsini, the spokesman of the ECC.

However, given that the complaints window has been open for ten days, and only 16 have been filed, ECC officials suspect the lack of direct provincial services has led to less submissions than it would otherwise receive.

Meanwhile, political parties have voiced concerns about the professionalism of the IEC and ECC officials as well as fears that powerful figures in outlying provinces have been preventing local residents from filing complaints against certain candidates.

"There are two problems, the Commissioners of the IEC and the members of the ECC are unprofessional, and they should be trained better," said Moeen Marastyal, the Deputy of the Right and Justice Party. "The second problem is that powerful figures forbid the people in remote areas and provinces from sending complaints to the center."

There have also been calls for the ECC to release the names of candidates who have complaints lodged against them, as well as calls for the identities of complainants. However, ECC officials have repeatedly denied these requests and said that it is legally bound to confidentiality. The information regarding the complaints that the Commission has shared is that they have been primarily related to fraud in the application process.