Said Hamid Gilani, deputy of Muhaz-e-Millie, recently spoke about discussions between political and religious leaders looking to collaborate tickets registered for the Presidential election to avoid an overcrowded field of candidates in the spring. He also responded to the subject of candidates' backgrounds and holding leaders accountable for past transgressions.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) had attempted to keep an overabundance of candidates from registering for the 2014 elections, as was the case in past years, by ratcheting up the standards for nomination. However, when the official registration period ended last Sunday, no less than 27 Presidential tickets had submitted themselves for nomination.
According to Hamid Gilani, his father, Peer Said Ahmad Gilani, the leader of Muhaz-e-Millie, and Sebghatullah Mujadadi, have been in talks with a number of registered Presidential candidates and political parties in attempt to consolidate the field.
"Last week a meeting was held between Peer Saheb and Hazrat Saheb and the majority of candidates," said Hamid Gilani. "During the meeting it was discussed that instead of running individually, we should support someone who can get votes and has higher chances of winning."
He further emphasized that Peer Said Ahmad Gilani did not plan to endorse any single candidate, but would try to get all to focus on the nation's priorities and not their own political gain.
Just after the IEC's registration period had ended, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the First Vice President nominee on Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai's ticket and a former faction leader during the Afghan civil war, apologized for his misdeeds and the damage he caused during the country's troubled past. His statement received mixed reviews on Tuesday, with some applauding and others scoffing.
Representatives from Human Rights Watch even welcomed Dostum's apology, but said it was insufficient and needed to be followed by more significant accountability enforcement for him and others who have committed violations of human rights in the past.
In response to a question about Presidential candidates with criminal backgrounds, Hamid Gilani said that accountability for those kinds of people requires a strong judicial and executive system, unlike the current one in Afghanistan.
"This is something that depends on the nation, and it can be done through the will of the nation and the capability of the executive and judicial system," he said. "These are the systems to decide who is guilty and who is not, unfortunately like every other system, we don't have them."
Meanwhile, Muhammad Ismail, the former Minister of Energy and Water, in reaction to the recent apologies of General Abdul Rasheed Dostum defended the General's actions and told BBC that those have saved Afghanistan from foreign occupation should not need to apologize.
He said that wars in Kabul during the 1990s were between right and wrong, and those who were in the side of right, don't need to apologize. Mr. Ismail did not specify who were the sides fighting for the right and those for the wrong, however.
With six more months before the Presidential elections, there is still significant time left for the fault lines of tickets and allegiances to change, and it is likely the field will consolidate. Whether or not the Electoral Complains Commission's (ECC) vetting process in which candidates with criminal backgrounds will be disqualified or negotiated meetings like those of the Muhaz-e-Millie will be what leads to a smaller number of candidates remains to be seen.