Vote recount stopped, poll results further delayed

KABUL) on Wednesday said the audit and recount of votes had been stopped in all provinces in response to candidate complaints.

As a result of the halt to the recount and audit of ballots, the poll panel said, the announcement of preliminary election results had been further delayed.

On November 9, the IEC started the audit and recount of votes from 8,255 of the 26,580 polling stations to sift fraudulent votes from valid ones — a move opposed by some candidates including Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbadin Hekmatyar.

IEC deputy spokesman Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi told Pajhwok Afghan News the vote audit and recount had been stopped in all provinces until the next decision of the commission.

On the other hand, the IEC also delayed the announcement of preliminary election result, scheduled for November 14.

Aurangzeb, an IEC commissioner, said the election result announcement was set back due to tensions over the vote recount process.

Earlier in the day, the commission said the audit and recount of votes was ongoing in 25 provinces of the country and so far ballots from 915 of polling stations had been tallied.

The presidential election was held on September 28. The preliminary result was expected to be announced on October 19 and the final outcome on October 7.

But the results were postponed due to slow data entry and technical problems in the commission’s main server.

The IEC had earlier promised unveiling the preliminary results from the election on November 14 and the final results on December 6.

mds/mud

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