Representatives of the Stability and Convergence campaign team, led by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, at a ceremony on Wednesday reiterated that “over 300,000 fraudulent votes” will not be acceptable under any circumstances.

They said the planned recount should not be started before fraudulent votes have been removed from the total.

According to the Stability and Convergence campaign team, there are four categories of fraudulent votes:

• 137,630 votes which are under server quarantine
• 102,012 votes which have been cast before or after the election day
• Votes validated by duplicate photos, or photos of photos.
• Votes from 700 devices and memory cards that are lost

People currently or formerly involved with the election stated concerns about the continued disagreements over the validity of votes:

“If the current situation continues, it will be difficult for the election commission to continue its activities, including the announcement of final results,” the former head of the Independent Election Commission, Fazl Ahmad Manawi, said.

“They will create the conditions for a crisis if they do not put aside their differences and make a thorough decision on their regulations and activities,” said Yusuf Rasheed, head of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan.

“The former commission was listening to the government and it faced this fate… But now, before a crisis occurs, they (the incumbent commissions) should defend their independence--for their work and for their choices. They should announce the actual votes of the people,” said Daud Ali Najafi, a former head of the election commission, said.

“They (the incumbent commissioners) should defend their independence. People are concerned. They should announce the results based on actual votes,” said Ibrahim Alokozai, an aide to President Ghani’s State Builder campaign team.