Out of 23 candidates for the Afghan presidential race, 18 have been qualified to run for the upcoming election, the Afghan Election Commission said in Kabul Tuesday.

"Three of the candidates withdrew their candidacy and two others did not meet the criteria to contest the presidential poll," Head of the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) Zakim Shah told journalists at a press conference.

For the vice president candidates, two were rejected by the JEMB and three were dropped by their partner.

None of the prominent candidates fell off the final list published by the JEMB Tuesday.

According to Zakim Shah, people's objections and candidates' dual nationality left three candidates out of the race. But the authority refused to identify them.

However, he admitted that his department received several objections against the candidacy of regional warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and former planning minister Hajji Mohammad Mohaqiq.
 
"We probed into the objections and complaints, but as per the constitution we cannot disqualify any candidate unless the allegation is proved," he said.

Both Dostum and Mohqiq, from the minorities of Uzbek and Hazara, have been accused of war crimes in the past and keeping private militias at present.

The Afghanistan's constitution bars any warlords or military leaders from standing for the election unless disarmed.

The incumbent president Hamid Karzai, former education minister Mohammad Yunus Qanooni, Dostum, Mohaqiq and the only female candidate Masouda Jalal are prominent among the runners in the race.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2004)