A senior member of the Afghan parliament’s leadership said Wednesday that government is trying to engineer the upcoming parliamentary elections by making sure its cronies secure seats in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament).  

This comes a day after the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said it had started assessing nomination papers of parliamentary election candidates.

“I want to ask the people not to sacrifice their lives for this election and neither vote for me nor should they let their children be sacrificed for this process. This process (elections) is a rigged process,” the first deputy speaker of the Wolesi Jirga, Humayun Humayun, said.

According to him the process was being manipulated but he did not give details.

However, one MP, Jafar Mahdawi said: “Government does not have the will to hold free and fair elections.”

Wolesi Jirga speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi meanwhile called on government to “pay more attention” to the issue of transparency in the elections.

“Government should hold a transparent election as it is the responsibility of the administration otherwise the consequences of a fraudulent election will be on government and will become the Independent Election Commission’s responsibility,” Ibrahimi said.

Government has however rejected claims of any “illegal” interference in electoral affairs.

“The government of Afghanistan will never interfere in the electoral process. It will only carry on its own responsibilities,” said Shahussain Murtazawi, a spokesman for the Presidential Palace.

“We hope that respected MPs will report their seven-year activities to the people instead of spreading propaganda and baseless accusations,” he added.