A number of electoral monitoring organizations on Saturday criticized the Independent Election Commission (IEC) for the recent appointment of Zabihullah Wagari as head of the IEC in Nangarhar, claiming this will affect the independence of the electoral body.

Wagari was the head of the IEC in Paktika during the past presidential elections and was widely accused of having been involved in election fraud. 

During the last elections, CEO Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign team claimed that huge voter fraud was evident in Paktika during the elections.

“Professional, impartial and committed people and those who are not accused (of fraud) should be appointed in order to bring reforms to the electoral commissions. The commission should be committed to keeping up good values otherwise anything they say will be only a slogan,” said Shah Mahmoud Mal, a member of Afghanistan Election Watchdog.

“This shows that there are things ongoing inside the election commission as it appoints officials without considering their capacity. It should appoint officials based on its strategy in order to use them at their best level,” said Wahid Farza, a member of Afghanistan Lawyers Union.

According to the IEC framework, the heads of the IEC offices in provinces should be appointed in a free competition process.