The chairperson of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), Hawa Alam Nuristani, on Thursday warned that the election commission could announce the preliminary results of the elections if the electoral campaigns continue to obstruct the recounting of votes in the seven remaining provinces.

“We could make a decision and share what we have with the people of Afghanistan and announce the results,” said IEC chief Hawa Alam Nuristani.

“We call on the electoral complaints commission to cooperate with us in this respect and raise their voice together with ours, according to the law, so that we can start the recount in seven provinces,” said Habiburrahman Nang, head of the IEC’s secretariat.

Meanwhile, presidential candidate Rahmatullah Nabil has said that the presidential elections have already reached a “deadlock” and that it would be better to create a ‘Reconciliation Government’.

“Our proposal is that a government similar to a transitional government should be formed, however it should be named the reconciliation government,” said Nabil.

He also called on the Taliban to agree to a ceasefire.

The independent election monitoring groups said that the IEC commissioners have asked the commission’s secretariat to provide further clarification on the recounting of nearly 500 voting sites.

“There are about 500 polling sites for which they want clarification,” said Yousuf Rashid, head of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA).

“This much delay is not acceptable for Afghanistan,” said Daud Sultanzoi, a member of Ashraf Ghani’s campaign.

The election commission is now scheduled to hold a joint meeting with UNAMA and other election teams on Sunday where they will discuss ways on how to get out of the electoral stalemate and provide a convincing response to the grievances of those campaigns that are hindering the recounting of votes in seven provinces.