Following the latest release of new numbers about the turnout in various regions, presidential contenders have continued to express skepticism over the exact number of people who voted in the election.

According to the presidential candidates, in some areas of the country the number of voters announced by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) was not on a realistic scale.

IEC statistics show that over 160,000 residents voted in the elections in Paktia province out of 400,000 eligible voters. Critics argue that this estimate of eligible voters is highly unrealistic.

“They claim over 24,000 votes in Zurmat of Paktia province. They talk about 9,999 in Rohani Baba area, and forgot 99.9. but Rohani Baba doesn’t have a district governor or anything else,” said presidential contender Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Also in Khost province, the IEC said that 95,000 voters cast their ballots, out of 258,000 potential voters. Again, some members of presidential teams say that this number of eligible voters cannot be possible.

But, in Parwan, only 42,000 people voted in the elections out of 218,000 voters. In this case, skeptics say it is unlikely that the voting number is so low, considering the relative safety of the province.

But in the southern province of Kandahar, where the polling centers reported insurgent threats, over 190,000 ballots have been reported.

“I fear today that it has increased 11 times--this can be increased 20 times tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. This is not justifiable. Who can accept that the votes in Nangarhar are around 232,000 and the votes in Herat are about 104,459,” said presidential candidate Faramarz Tamanna.

The Independent Election Commission on Tuesday announced that 2,595,445 votes were cast in 4,384 centers across Afghanistan, but added that the numbers may change because the votes need to be confirmed during data entry.