A number of Parliament Members (MPs) on Saturday raised concerns over remarks by a commissioner regarding secret decisions being taken by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and them sidelining a number of commissioners. 

IEC commissioner Ma’azullah Dawlati on Friday told TOLOnews that many decisions by the commission were being taken by four members who failed to consult the other three commissioners. 

“I want to tell you an example: when we wanted to introduce the head of the IEC secretariat, after the first test, and in the final phase, we did not hold an official meeting to agree on which one of the three candidates will be introduced to the Presidential Palace. That issue was done between four people while the other commissioners were not consulted,” Dawlati told TOLOnews.

MPs said the commissioners from disadvantaged provinces have been marginalized and that commissioners somehow related to the presidential palace make the decisions.

“The situation is really concerning. The presidential palace issues them (commissioners) orders,” Humayun Humayun, first deputy speaker of parliament said. 

“Evidence also gets published that there are disagreements within the IEC and they blame one another,” MP Zmarak Padkhabi said. 

“Commissioners from deprived provinces have been marginalized and the commissioners related to the presidential palace rule the commission,” MP Abdul Rahim Rahin said. 

The Independent Election Commission has yet to react in this respect. 

Despite consecutive efforts made to get comment from the IEC spokesman regarding this, no reaction was forthcoming.

These claims come after a source from within the commission recently stated that commissioners disagreed on a range of issues.

The institutions overseeing the election process meanwhile said most of the disagreements within the IEC are rooted in the interference of external groups in IEC affairs.