KABUL (SW) – The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission announced its decision on complaints and protests regarding the preliminary outcome of the presidential election at a news conference in Kabul on Wednesday.
According to the commission's rulings, some 309 polling sites linked to the 300,000 disputed votes and 1103 additional polling stations linked with the dispute to have a special audit.
Zohra Bayan Shinwari, head of the IECC, said according to the ruling, if 65% of these polling stations have a valid audit, based on the criteria, which includes having biometric information, all votes would be considered valid.
According to the IECC, 15% of the 102,012 votes from 353 polling stations that were cast out of the polling time, would be recounted. About the votes with no biometric date, the IECC decided such votes from some 2298 polling stations would be recounted.
The IECC also rejected the IEC's proposal of (1-5) difference between the paper's results form and biometric information as benchmark.
The IECC has sent its decision to the Independent Election Commission for announcement and implementation. After this step, the IEC will implement these decisions and pave the way for announcing the final outcome of the presidential election.
Following the announcement of the IECC, Noor Rahman Rehmani, a senior member of the electoral team led by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, wrote on his Facebook that the elections would go to a second round. However, the State Builder team led by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has not shown its reactions.
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