KABUL - The Election Oversight Network (EON) on Thursday questioned ‘whether peace or election is a priority’, claiming the two ruling electoral teams were using government resources.
Officials of the Election Oversight Network, a coalition of several election oversight institutes, on Thursday organized a press conference about peace and election.
Habibullah Shinwari, a member of the network, said peace and election were two issues which went together, confusing the public who did not know which one was a priority.
“All people want to know whether peace or election is the priority of the Afghan government and the international community”, he said.
“If is peace coming people should how and under what conditions? Or if election is a priority then there should be explanation about its conditions”, he said.
The government was currently emphasizing on election while politicians and the international community preferred peace and there were some circles who wanted election and peace simultaneously”, Shinwari said.
The ninth round of peace talks between the Taliban and US representatives in Qatar is expected in near future as the two sides have agreed over some issues in previous meetings.
Shinwari said peace talks would affect the election process and taking the two processes forward together would not be possible. “If the same situation continues, the election will not be held or only a limited people would participate in it and it would also lack political legitimacy”, he said.
He called the ongoing electioneering of candidates as unjust and said, “Our findings show the two ruling electoral teams (Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah), illegally use government resources for their campaigns.”
Enayatullah Osmani, head of Women’s Research Organization for Peace and a member of EON, said that election commissions’ officials were not neutral about election and they supported some specific candidates sometimes.
He said the Afghan people wanted the election on its schedule, September 28, and the date should not be changed.
Anisa Taiba, EON spokesman also said the Afghan government and the international community should clarify whether election or peace was their priority. (Pajhwok)