Afghan members of parliament, together with election observers, on Monday called for a neutral investigation into video clips on social media depicting the fraudulent marking of ballots.

These clips are currently circulating and gaining attention on social media, but officials have not determined which kind of fraudulent activity is taking place: Are election materials being marked fraudulently, as depicted, or are supporters of rival campaigns faking the filmed activity in order to smear opponents?

In many cases the alleged perpetrators show their faces and seem perfectly comfortable being filmed, leading many on Twitter to wonder about the authenticity of clips.  

Officials from the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) said that these clips are among thousands of other complaints that the commission has received.

Those who provided the election materials for this illegal activity should be identified, election observers said.

“It raises concerns for us. There is no precise accounting of sensitive election materials, because the commission has supplied election materials to 5,373 polling centers, but according to the security organizations, elections were held for only 4,942 polling centers,” said Habiullah Shinwari, a member of Election Watch Afghanistan.

“The Independent Election Commission has to respond--they should specify those polling sites in areas which are not under their control,” said Sumaira Rasa, a spokesperson for the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA).

“The responsibility goes to the field operation department and the secretariat of the election commission,” said Hamideh Ahmadzai, a lawmaker in Afghanistan’s parliament, “The job of commissioners is to make policy.”  

An Afghan MP agrees:

“The commission should clarify this. Those who have committed fraud must be investigated,” said Saima Khogyani, a lawmaker in the parliament.

One commissioner has responded that an inquiry will take place:

“The Electoral Complaints Commission is focusing on this issue. One of the responsibilities of the Electoral Complaints Commission is to identify the violations in the elections,” said IECC commissioner Mohammad Abdullah.