On Wednesday evening, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) confirmed that more than 234,000 votes from the 525 polling sites have been voided.
Earlier Wednesday, officials of the ECC addressed complaints registered after the release of preliminary results to the media.
On April 26, the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the preliminary results of the April 5 presidential elections, with Dr Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 44.9 per cent of the votes, followed by Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai who obtained 31.5 per cent and Dr Zalmai Rassoul with 11.5 per cent. To secure an outright victory, a candidate must win more than 50 per cent of all valid ballots. As of now, it looks nearly improbable for Abdullah Abdullah to get to the 50 per cent mark and a run-off looks imminent, which is likely to take place on May 28.
With unexpectedly high turnout nationwide on April 5, many inside and outside Afghanistan were quick to highlight participation as the major success story of the 2014 elections. But a positive note from this year's process that has received less praise has been the relatively small role ethnicity seems to have played for candidates during their campaigns as well as voters on Election Day.
The Afghan election body has called on the leading presidential candidates on Monday to respect the preliminary results and avoid making any premature speculations about the final results, which is scheduled to be announced little over two weeks.
The preliminary results of the April 5 presidential elections put Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 44.9 percent and trailed by Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai with 31.5 percent.
Following the announcement of preliminary results of the presidential election on Saturday, six of the eight candidates began taking steps to join forces with the two leading contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
On Monday Nadir Mohseni, spokesman to the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), reported that 71 complaints have been filed against the preliminary results.
Mohseni said that the complaints were filed by leading presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah and falling in sixth place in the preliminary round, presidential candidate Gul Agha Sherzai.
“So far 71 complaints have been filed against the preliminary results,” Mohseni said. “One complaint was filed by Gul Agha Sherzai and the rest, 70, complaints registered by Abdullah Abdullah.”
Officials of Helmand provincial Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) declared on Sunday that votes from 15 polling sites have been invalidated.
“Votes from 15 polling sites were voided,” Helmand ECC head, Ali Khil said. “Votes for provincial council from 10 of the 15 sites were invalid and votes for presidential candidates from five sites were voided as well.”
Khil said the total number of votes from the 15 polling sites consists of 7,000 votes.
In a press conference held in Kabul on Sunday, leading candidate Abdullah Abdullah said that he is victorious after the release of preliminary results. However, Abdullah did not comment about the possibility of a runoff, but stressed that he will make a remark about a second round after the announcement of final results.
During his press conference he criticized the election commissions and their lack of responsibility that paved the way for coordinated riggings.
The possibility of a runoff between the top two candidates is all the more certain after the announcement of nearly 82% of results that placed Dr Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 43.8% of the total vote, followed by Dr Ashraf Ghani with 32.9%.
Kabul: Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah retained a clear lead in the latest Afghan presidential election results released on Thursday, but he remained below the threshold needed for a decisive first-round victory.
Mr Abdullah has secured 43.8 per cent of the vote, with his main rival Ashraf Ghani on 32.9 per cent, election officials said, after about 80 per cent of ballots were counted.
If no candidate gains more than 50 per cent, a second-round run-off between the two leading names is scheduled for May 28.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Zia proudly recalled how he voted in the Afghan presidential election on April 5, for the first time in his 18 years.
Then he voted for the second time, a little later that day, casting an illegal additional ballot in the same box. “I was worried that my candidate wouldn’t win,” he said, “because of all the fraud and corruption.”
MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) on Wednesday said recount process of the April 5 election votes in northern Balkh province completed while the votes of three ballot boxes invalidated.
Provincial IECC chief Mohammad Anabi told Pajhwok Afghan News the recounting process of votes in 27 polling centres was started last week which had been completed.
He said 16 of the polling centres were quarantined in the wake of complaints while 11 others were ordered by the IECC main office to be quarantined for review.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) stated in a press release Tuesday night that they have delayed the announcement of preliminary results to Saturday April 26, 2014. Instead a third partial result will be shared on Thursday.
The press release states, that the delay is only for a short period of time allowing the IEC to thoroughly assess the ballots to provide an accurate and credible result that will impact the final outcome.
KABUL: Afghanistan’s presidential election result has been delayed by two days due to fraud investigations and will now be released on Saturday, officials said Wednesday as they vowed to sift out fake votes.
Partial results from the April 5 election to succeed President Hamid Karzai have already been released, with former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah ahead of his main rival Ashraf Ghani after half of the ballots were counted.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced partial results on Sunday with presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah in the lead.
IEC Chief Mohammad Yousuf Nuristani announced that Abdullah is in the lead with 44.4 percent, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai trails with 33.2 percent and Zalmai Rassoul with 10.4 percent.
"Today's announcement is not final," Nuristani emphasized. "There will be changes in the results as counting continues."
The partial result consisted of 49.67 percent of votes from 34 provinces, adding up to roughly 3.5 million votes nationwide.
Out of the 83 ballot boxes from 17 voting centers in the province of Balkh, only 30 ballot boxes have been recounted. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) officials in Balkh said the ballot boxes are from Mazar-e-Sharif and surrounding districts.
The recount is taking place on the basis that the IEC headquarters in Kabul issued instructions in differentiating real from fake to ensure the cleanest and fairest election result possible.
Officials of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) say preliminary results will be announced on April 24, but it is still unclear when the release of overall findings will be announced.
IEC officials said that over 70 percent of the results have been investigated and completed, but they still have to be double checked before finalizing count.
The country’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) says the result, scheduled to be declared on April 24, will let Afghans know who in all probability will replace President Hamid Karzai.
