As the controversy around the disqualification of 35 parliamentary election candidates continues, officials from the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) on Wednesday said that the election process is now facing a stalemate over what they described as wrong decisions by the Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) regarding the issue.
 
As dissatisfaction grew, protestors also closed the regional offices of the IEC in Nangarhar, Kunduz and Logar provinces on Wednesday. 
 
Protestors have also surrounded the IEC headquarters  in Kabul for the past three days.
 
Referring to the issue, IEC commissioner Sayed Hafiz Hashemi said that the election process is now facing a crisis due to the ongoing issues and that the IECC is responsible for the situation.
 
“The election process is now facing a crisis and the crisis was fomented by those who took an incorrect decision and failed to take authentic decisions,” said IEC commissioner Sayed Hafiz Hashemi. 
 
IECC defends its move
 
“Our decisions were made based on the law, the commission does not take action on the orders of someone, it takes decisions independently and based on the law and its decisions are final,” said IECC spokesman Ali Reza Rouhani.
 
Election monitoring groups and observers however have said that the continuation of protests in front of IEC offices will even impact next year’s presidential elections.
 
“We are in a critical situation, if this trend continues for another three or four days, the elections will not be held on time,” said FEFA chief Yousuf Rashid.
 
Protesters closed IEC offices in Nangarhar over the IECC’s move to disqualify Jawed Zaman.
 
“These people have gathered here and want justice,” said disqualified candidate Jawed Zaman. 

In Logar province, supporters of disqualified candidate Akbar Stanekzai also closed the IEC regional office. 
 
“We will not leave this place unless the name of our candidate is put back on the list,” said one protestor Sufi Habib.
 
In the northern province of Parwan, supporters of disqualified candidate Ghulam Haidar Jailani closed the IEC regional office for several hours.
 
They also closed Kabul-north highway to traffic
 
“We will continue our protests if our demands are not met,” said a protest Naser.
 
This new development takes place at a time that similar protests were held in front of IEC regional offices in Takhar, Badakhshan and Paktia in the past several days.