The presidential race heated up this week as runoff candidates Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah exchanged blows over damaging rumors being spread about each of them. Ashraf Ghani went so far as to challenge Abdullah to a religious debate under the suspicion that his rival had fed questions about his religious devotion.
Countdown has begun for the presidential campaigns between Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as they face-off in the second round of elections. Campaigning is scheduled to begin on Thursday May 22, 2014.
Both candidates have said that they will be traveling around Afghanistan further explaining their platforms to the people to gain supporters.
Dr. Abdullah’s team said that their campaign will not be limited to major cities; Dr. Ghani’s team said they will mobilize their campaign team to reach places far into the depths of Afghanistan such as villages.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Tuesday announced preliminary results of the provincial councils elections. According to IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor, three women in Kabul and three others in Daikondi province lead their races.
Mr. Noor said that although there are two seats reserved for women on the Daikondi provincial council, an additional third seat is, based on the preliminary results, going to a woman. The women so far winning their provincial contests in Daikondi are Fatima Akbari, Sumaya Mohammadi and Sima Rostamian.
With less than a month left before the June 14 runoff election, the two presidential hopefuls, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, made it clear on Tuesday that they want to see reform at the election commissions.
The assurance from Gen Raheel came during his talks with Afghan Army Chief Sher Muhammad Karimi and International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) Commander General Joseph Dunford in Kabul on Monday.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday warned government officials that it would not remain silent about interference if any occurs in the final round of this year’s presidential election.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has announced that up to 4,000 new polling sites will be used during the runoff round. The campaigns of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah have met the news with a mixed response.
A number of election monitoring groups held a conference on Sunday in Kabul and made recommendations to the election commissions, candidates, security institutions and media about the runoff round. Among other things, they called for the IEC and ECC to terminate employees who were accused of fraud during the first round and have them prosecuted.
Throughout the first round vote counting and complaints investigation processes, observers complained that election officials were not giving them full-access and shutting off much of their work behind closed doors.
The Independent Election Commission on Sunday warned the two runoff candidates against exploiting religious and ethnic divisions among Afghans during the campaign period set to begin this week. Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said those kinds of politics could undermine public support for the election process.
The second round campaign period will last 20 days, ending on June 11. The runoff vote will be held just a couple days after, on June 14.
The outcome of Afghanistan’s presidential electionremains in the balance, with no clear winner.
Runoff candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai have begun preparing for the brief campaign period that will take place before the second round scheduled for June 14.
Although both contenders have the same two week window to try to secure a victor for themselves, Abdullah heads into the runoff election with a leg-up on Ashraf Ghani after ending the first round vote count nearly 14 percent ahead.
Noor Mohammamd Noor, spokesman to the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Saturday reported that governors and a number of ministers were involved in riggings and interference in the first round of the presidential elections.
Election monitoring organizations have also reiterated that the government meddling in the election procedures damages the credibility of the process.
“Some of the individuals who serve within the government use resources and officials positions in support of a particular candidate, including governors, district chiefs and ministers,” Noor said.
The run-off will be conducted on June 14, 2014, said Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) Chairman Dr Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani.
Los resultados finales de la segunda ronda, se anunciarán el 22 de julio, de acuerdo con le organismo electoral.
Kabúl, Afganistán.- De acuerdo con la Comisión Electoral de Afganistán, ninguno de los candidatos obtuvo los votos suficientes para asegurar la victoria en la primera ronda de los comicios electorales para la presidencia del país.
Independent Election Commission (IEC) Chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani has urged Afghans to avoid turning the election process into an ethnic dispute as the presidential competition heats up for a runoff round.
Afghanistan has long struggled with ethnic tensions and strife, but this year, there has been a noticeable lack of overt ethno-nationalism in election process. Still, some are concerned voters rely on ethnic and regional ties instead of more substantive issues to determine their favored candidate.
Afghan election monitoring groups and the United States Embassy in Kabul on Thursday welcomed the announcement of the final results from the presidential vote. Looking ahead to the second round runoff, observers said they hoped the mistakes of the first round would not be made again.
In particular, Afghan civil society members were adamant about the Independent Election Commission (IEC) being better in its vetting of employees and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) being more efficient in its work.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Thursday, that a second round of elections will be held on June 14 between leading candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
The IEC Chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said at the press conference in Kabul that none of the candidates received over 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff. Hence, the second round of elections will be between the two top candidates: Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) finalized their decision on the registered complaints after delaying three days. The ECC said that their verdict will be sent to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Tuesday.
“The reason behind the delay was because of the large number of complaints,” ECC Chairman Abdul Satar Saadat said. “And the public hearings took a total of six days."
Mr. Saadat added that after concluding the complaints process the presidential elections might go into a second round.
The leading Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah’s electoral team on Monday accused the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) of entering “more than half a million fraudulent votes” into the database, calling on the Electoral Complains Commission (ECC) to review their complaints.
The new waves of complaints come as the ECC is finalizing their two-week long review of allegations of fraud and making the final decision on how many votes to be invalided.
