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| Afghanistan |
| Abdullah Demands Election Chief Sacking |
| 2009-10-28 |
| [Quqnoos] Dr Abdullah has said on Monday that the head of Afghanistan's election body should be replaced ahead of the run-off election. President Hamid Karzai's main rival in the Nov. 7 run-off election, Abdullah Abdullah, said the head of Independent Election Commission (IEC) has "no credibility". Nor does anyone else in the whole election matter ... Addressing a press conference, Dr Abdullah also called that the Afghan ministers of Interior, Education and Tribal Affairs should be suspended from their positions during the election period. Dr Abdullah accused the ministers of being biased towards President Karzai and campaigning for the Afghan incumbent. "We will wait for the commission's reply until October 31 and until then we suspend all of our relations with the commission," he told reporters in Kabul. He refused to say what he would do if these conditions were not met. President Karzai has shown disagreement with Dr Abdullah's call to sack Azizullah Ludin, the head of the IEC. "The change in the election commission is not in the interest of our country," the BBC quoted President Karzai as saying. "There were some senior electoral officials who were not in favour of mine, but I didn't consider bring a change in the leadership," Karzai said, "I wanted them to have their freedom and campaign for their favorite candidate and vote for him." To prevent a possible fraud in the run-off election, more than 200 district election officials have been sacked or replaced. In reaction to the statement by Abdullah Daoud Ali Najafi, deputy of Mr Ludin said "It has no affect on us at all," Meanwhile, US ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry Berry, called on both candidates to avoid any actions that undermine the process. The statement by Abdullah could further complicate the process as the run-off is considered a solution to the current crisis in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Fred |