Three candidates for Afghanistan's presidential vote have been barred for flouting candidacy requirements such as a ban on men linked to illegal armed groups, a commission announced Tuesday. Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) chairman Grant Kippen refused to name the three, saying they would be identified when the final list of candidates for the August 20 polls is published on Friday.
Forty-two men and two women have signed up to run for president, including the incumbent Hamid Karzai who is going for a second term. Fifty-four of 3,324 candidates for provincial council elections also being held on August 20 have been excluded for the same reason, Kippen told reporters.
The ECC has for the past weeks been investigating complaints against candidates who have to meet certain requirements to stand for election. "After investigations and adjudication of those valid challenges, the ECC has decided that a total of 57 people do not meet the qualification or requirements for candidacy," Kippen said.
"Of those, three individuals had submitted candidacy for presidential elections and the remainder are standing for provincial councils." In 55 of the cases, the would-be candidates were affiliated to or led illegal armed factions, Kippen said. One had dual citizenship and another had a criminal conviction, he said.