Election observers in Afghanistan on Tuesday said members, head of the secretariat of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), and some IEC provincial chiefs were involved in financial and electoral fraud and must be fired.

Observers called on the Afghan attorney general not to be indifferent regarding the allegations against the leadership of the election commission and launch an investigation into the claims.

“The commission should clarify to the people their programs for reforms, after delaying the elections for three months, and which programs they will work on in their reform agenda,” said Habibullah Shinwari, head of Transparent Election Forum of Afghanistan (TEFA).

“There is a need for a serious review and serious reforms in the leadership level of the election commission; that means all commissioners of the election commission and head of the election commission,” said Naeem Asghari, member of Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA).

But, officials from the Office of Attorney General of Afghanistan (AGO) have said the legal body is ready to launch an investigation into the claims if the election monitoring groups come up with sufficient evidence to prove their allegations.

Meanwhile, on Monday US ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass said he fully supports the UN call for critical reforms in Afghanistan’s election bodies.

“We fully support @UNAMAnews call for critical reforms in #Afghanistan’s elections bodies. #Afghan people deserve election bodies that are non-political, highly capable, and staffed with experts who can restore public trust in the #elections process,” Bass tweeted on Monday.

“We call on the attorney general not to keep silent about the issue, there is (the) commissioner, there is head of the secretariat and head of the provincial officers who have committed corruption and crime. Attorney general of Afghanistan has the authority to bring them to justice,” said Khalil Raufi, head of Afghanistan Youth Training Foundation.

“The attorney general of Afghanistan is ready to investigate any kind of issue, on the basis of the law, whenever any institution refers them to it, based on documents and assessments, and it will implement the law on anyone, regardless of their post,” said AGO spokesman Jamshid Rasuli.

Prior to this, Obaidullah Niazi, the acting head of IEC’s site operation chief  was arrested by personnel of National Directorate of Security (NDS) while Rasoul Omar, head of the IEC in Kunduz province is also wanted by the security agencies over their involvement in electoral crimes. But election monitoring groups have said that Omar has sought refuge in the home of a political leader.