Tuesday April 15, 2014
Kabul (BNA) The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) on Sunday announced the partial results of the presidential elections which were held on the 5th April 2014.
The election commission said that presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah leads the poll with only 10 percent of votes counted. Addressing a news conference here in Kabul on Sunday, chairman of Election Commission Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said that the results announced today for 26 provinces of the country, representing 500,000 of the estimated seven million ballots casted in the elections.
Nuristani said that 75 percent of votes nationwide have been received, but no counted for the partial result statement. “for partial results we only counted 10 percent, 500,000 votes, we are still counting the remaining votes for the final results, IEC chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said.
Nuristani added that it is too soon to talk about a second round of elections because they have not finished counting. According to the results, Abdullah Abdullah is ahead with 41.9 %, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai trailing at 37.6 %, Zalmai Rassoul in third with 9.8 % and Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf falling behind with 5.1percent. In a press conference on Sunday, Abdullah Abdullah said Sunday’s result is just a highlight for what is to come. While holding a press conference on Sunday, Abdullah Abdullah said that the partial results are just a sign what is to come. “These results are preliminary, and results from eight other provinces of the country yet to come,” Abdullah further stated.
Based on the statement of the IEC officials, eight provinces were not included in the partial results including Paktika, Wardak, Ghazni, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor, Nuristan and Daikondi.
Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said in a press conference on Sunday that the partial result included both valid and invalid votes. “Today’s result was a basic result,” Ghani said. “The counted votes included a both clean and fraudulent vote, which needs to be differentiated, and I hope this is distinguished soon,” Ghani added that election commissions need to address the complaints soon because the result announced today included those objections filed on Election Day. “Today results were 10 percent of votes, but what was the total number of people who voted?” Ghani asked. “We request the IEC to release the total number of voters.
In the meantime, political commentators have also expressed their views about the partial results of the presidential elections. “Still the vote counting process faces some leakages, still the election commission has not been succeeded to announce the partial results of the elections on time despite having a lot of resources and staff, also the IEC chief confirmed that the election commission was facing technical problem, now technical issue requires explanations, they must conduct their duties accurately, otherwise, credibility of the election will be questioned, we can comment on the winner and the loser in coming days,” political commentator Najib Paikan said. “Still we are counting the votes, I think the votes are cleared and people have complete understanding with their desired candidates that who would be the winter and who move shoulder by shoulder,” Paikan added.
“The votes show that the elections will be slip to a runoff and it conveys clear message to candidates to be prepared for the second time, I hope that the candidate will respect and honor the votes of the people, and the loser should have this courage to congratulate the winner. The people of Afghanistan by defying security threats and intimidations largely voted in the elections to lead the country toward longstanding peace, security and socioeconomic development.
