The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday said it will decide tomorrow (Sunday) whether or not to announce the election results despite the incomplete recount. Currently only 27 out 34 provinces have participated in the recount. Recounting at the remaining seven provinces has been stopped due the electoral teams who accuse the IEC of “fraud.”
Commissioner Aurangzeb, a member of the election commission, said that on Sunday the secretariat of the election commission will share their information with the commission, and they will make a decision about announcing the preliminary election results even though the seven provinces remain uncounted.
Two months after the presidential election, still no results have been announced.
“We also discussed partial results, preliminary results, and the seven provinces that are blocked, and how the recount process in those seven provinces can be resumed,” said Aurangzeb, the IEC commissioner.
Commissioner Aurangzeb insisted that the protesters must allow the counting process to begin in the seven provinces where the IEC offices are closed.
Abdullah’s electoral team, on the other hand, has warned that until the 300,000 “fraudulent” votes are invalidated, Abdullah’s team will launch widespread protests.
“We want a meeting facilitated by the United Nations where all partners are involved, and where all questions can be asked to the commission, and the commission can present their technical reasons, and we can all work for a solution,” said Naeem Ayoubzada, head of the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA).
But Ashraf Ghani's campaign is concerned about the delay in announcing the preliminary results.
“They (the IEC) have to keep their election timetable and announce the preliminary results because there are also opportunistic teams that are consuming time and doing things like what you saw Friday,” said Abdul Qadir Hotkhail, Ghani's team observer in the IEC, referring to Abdullah’s campaign team’s protests in Kabul.
The IEC previously said that if the recounting continues to be impeded in the remaining seven provinces, the election commission will call on the security and government forces to intervene so the process can resume.
The election commission offices in Panjshir, Faryab, Jawozjan, Baghlan Samangan, Badakhshan and Takhar provinces are closed because of campaign team interference.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mir Rahman Rahmani said yesterday's protests were a wake-up call for the IEC.
Rahmani said that the IEC must prove to the Afghan people that the commission is not a traitor and that it is doing its job with transparency.
“The protest of the Stability and Convergence team on Friday against the IEC was a serious alarm for all of us,” said Rahmani.
Other MPs accuse the IEC of failing to fulfill its responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the Independent Election Commission, in a statement, says the demonstrations are the right of citizens and that electoral groups can air their complaints in a legal way.