Wednesday July 16, 2014
Kabul (BNA) The election management bodies have welcomed 100 percent vote auditing under the supervision of the UN, domestic and international observers and observers of the two candidates.
Elaborating on the topic, chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said that all ballot boxes from the provinces of the country would be transferred to Kabul by the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF). “ISAF will transfer all ballot boxes to center, all of the ballot boxes would be audited under the supervision of UNAMA, domestic and international observers and observers of the two candidates,” Nuristani stated. “International observers are ready to supervise vote auditing process of Afghanistan elections.” UN Special Envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubiŝ said.
“The agreement between the two candidates was a major achievement.” Officials of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) have also welcomed vote auditing in the presence of domestic and international observers. The ECC spokesman Nadir Mohseni said that recounting and auditing of votes of the second round of elections under the supervision of domestic and international institutions will support the credibility and transparency of the elections. “The electoral commissions are the only authority which have the responsibility to conduct the elections and announce the elections results, the UN in the current circumstances will support only technical support to elections commission and will supervise the process,” ECC spokesman Nadir Mohseni said. The election supervising institutions have said that the joint cooperation between electoral campaigns, international community, domestic and international observers for invalidating the fake votes from the genuine votes yield positive outcomes if there a close harmony exists between the observers.
“Invalidation of fake votes from the genuine votes must be conducted according to some particular standards as well as domestic and international observers and high ranking representatives of candidates including the two commissions could contribute in the transparency of the process on condition that all institutions and representatives work jointly,” head of Transparent Election foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) Mohammad Naeem Ayoubzada said. “If there is no joint move by these institutions and representatives, it would be difficult to ensure transparency and discard fake votes from genuine, so cooperation between them is a must.” “Designation of experts by the electoral campaigns is quit important in this respect, electoral campaigns must be elite in this sphere and they must assign task to expert to make sure transparency,” Ayoubzada said, adding that 100 percent vote auditing is the best alternative to discard fake votes from genuine ones and it could support transparency of elections.”
“In the first, the agreement which was made must be implemented and later on vote auditing must be carried out,” former IEC Secretariat Chief Zekrya Barakzai said.” However, there are some indexes and standards for better transparency but there is need for more standards to ensure the transparency of process.” Meanwhile, citizens have also expressed hope that the agreement made between the candidates will support Afghanistan’s stability. But the citizens maintained that transparency of the elections must be considered. They ask the domestic and international observers and the UN to work jointly and make sure that fraudulent votes are separated. “The agreement between the candidates has left positive impacts on moral of the people of Afghanistan, people hop that they also cooperate in separating fake votes from genuine votes,” local resident Wahid said.
