Nadir Mohseni, the spokesman and a member of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), on Wednesday announced that the Commission will start reviewing the documents of the electoral candidates after October 6th. Mr. Mohseni also requested the citizens to submit documents or any other evidence related to electoral frauds committed by the candidates to the ECC. The Commission urged the citizens to send their complaints to the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) provincial offices, as the ECC has not opened any offices in the provinces.
"The Election Compliant Commission (ECC) will work according to the announced schedule. We will start reviewing the documents submitted by the candidates after October 6," said Mr. Mohseni.
"According to our agreement with the IEC, we will receive the complaints against the candidates through the IEC's provincial offices. We request the citizens to submit their complaints in the IEC's offices," Mr. Mohseni added.
The officials of the ECC said that the final list of the candidates would be announced on November 16th. Sunday is the last day of the nomination filing process for the Presidential and Provincial Councils' electoral candidates.
According to officials of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), so far, only two Presidential candidates have filed their nomination with the Commission. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the leader of the National Coalition of Afghanistan (NCA); and Bismillah Sher, the leader of the Wefaq Millie Party (WMP), are the two candidates who have submitted their nomination papers.
Dr. Abdullah officially filed his nomination for Presidency with the IEC on Tuesday. Er. Muhammad Khan, the deputy head of the Hezb-e-Islami Party (HIP), and Hajji Muhammad Muhaqeq, the Chairman of the Hezb-e-Wahdat-e-Milli Mardom Afghanistan (HWMMA), also filed their candidacy for the post of First Vice-President and Second Vice-President, respectively.
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is the first "Presidential heavyweight," who has filed his candidature 16 days after the commencement of the nomination filing process. While speaking to the reporters, Dr. Abdullah said that a purposeful peace negotiation process, security and economic development will be his top working priorities, if elected as the President.
On Wednesday, Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf resigned from the Lower House today, in order to file his candidacy for the next spring's Presidential election.
Mr. Sayyaf announced his candidacy a day after Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the leader of the National Coalition of Afghanistan (NCA), officially filed his nomination for Presidency.
Additionally, Mr. Sayyaf said that Muhammad Ismail, the Minister of Water and Energy, will be his First Vice-President and the name of the Second Vice-President would be announced soon.
Meanwhile, Tawab Ghorzang, the spokesman of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), on Wednesday announced that Gul Agha Sherzai, the Governor of Nangarhar province, has resigned from the post, in order to file his candidacy for the next spring's Presidential election.
The election is set for April 5, but with the nomination filing period coming to an end, news about more people filing their candidature would be making news over the course of the next couple of days. The nomination process is coming to a close on October 6th.