The Afghan election body - Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday announced the final result of the last controversial electoral constituency of the country's parliamentary elections held on September 18.

"Since there is no change in the preliminary results of the elections in Ghanzi province, the IEC made its decision in accordance with the electoral law and announcing the winners of the preliminary results as the winners of the elections there in Ghazni," IEC Chief Fazal Ahmad Manawi told a press conference here.

The IEC chief had already announced the final results of the parliamentary elections in the country's 33 provinces on November 24 and with the announcement of the election results in Ghazni province, final results of second parliamentary elections since the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001 are over.

Eleven seats have been allocated to Ghazni province in Wolesi Jirga or the Lower House of the Afghan parliament and all the winners in the preliminary results are ethnic Hazara.

Winning the preliminary results by Hazaras has sidelined the major ethnic group - Pashtun in the province and prompted some circles in the government to call for holding a fresh election to ensure ethnic balanced representation, a demand had been rejected by the election body.

The eastern Ghazni province is among the provinces where Taliban militants are active and according to the chief election commissioner Manawi only three votes had been cast in Andar district on the voting day September 18 due to security reasons.

Over 2,500 candidates including some 400 women had contested the election to secure a seat in the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament.

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