<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a>) on Wednesday announced wrapping up the vote recount and audit process in 17 provinces, but said the process remained halted in seven other provinces.</p>
<p>Zabihullah Sadat, IEC acting spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the vote recount and audit process had finished in 17provinces and was underway practically in another 10 provinces.</p>
<p>He said the recount process had been competed in Farah, Kunduz, Herat, Badghis, Uruzgan, Bamyan, Laghman, Balkh, MaidanWardak, Nimroz, Samangan, Daikundi, <a href="https://www.pajhwok.com/en/afganistan/chagcharan/ghor"><strong>Ghor</strong></a> and Nuristan, Kunar and Zabul provinces.</p>
<p>According to him, the vote recount and audit process has been done at 4,640 polling stations.</p>
<p>But the vote recount and audit process has been stopped by observers of presidential candidates in Panjsher, Faryab, Sar-i-Pul, Takhar and Badakhshan, Baghlan provinces, he added.</p>
<p>Sadat said the vote recount was underway in presence of presidential candidates’ observers and the Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC) in 10 provinces.</p>
<p>On November 9, the electoral panel started the audit and recount of votes from 8,255 of the 26,580 polling stations to sift fraudulent ballots from valid ones.</p>
<p>The move has drawn opposition from several candidates including Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and GulbadinHekmatyar.</p>
<p>However, the <a href="https://www.pajhwok.com/en/iec"><strong>IEC</strong></a> resumed the vote recount and audit process across the country on Sunday.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>But the results were postponed due to slow data entry and technical problems in the commission’s main server.</p>
<p>The IEC had earlier promised unveiling the preliminary results from the election on November 14 and the final results on December 6.</p>
<p>pk</p>
