45% of Afghan Presidential Election Ballots have been successfully audited. Results should be announced before the end of August, according to the Independent Electoral Commission. 45pc of votes audited in a month, says poll panel By Muhammad Hassan Khetab Aug 17, 2014 (Pajhwok News) KABUL (Pajhwok): Forty-five percent of the votes cast in the runoff election have been audited so far, an official said on Sunday, as the outgoing president has stressed his successor should assume office in a fortnight. At a meeting with Kabul University teachers on Thursday, President Hamid Karzai said that Afghanistan should have a new president within the next two weeks to ensure political certainty and stability. Speaking at a news conference in Kabul, Independent Election Commission (IEC) spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said the vote audit was being carried out normally by 260 teams in two shifts. With the scrutiny of the ballot boxes a day earlier, the commission is nearing the target: Audit of 1,000 boxes a day. He said 10,231 ballot boxes involving 45 percent of votes had been audited since the start of the process. The total number of ballot boxes has been put at more than 22,828. Noor cited differences between representatives of the two candidates as the main factor behind slowdown of the process. At the same time, the special audit of 6,000 suspect ballot boxes was moving forward satisfactorily, the spokesman added. Of them, 37 ballot boxes had been inspected a day earlier, he explained. Daud Sultanzoy, a member of the Ashraf Ghani-led Change and Continuity team, acknowledged the audit process had gathered speed, but their demand for scrutinising 1,000 ballot boxes on a daily basis was yet to be met. “We need to quickly finish the audit as the people have become frustrated. They think the recount isn’t going as fast as claimed by UN officials,” he added. Sultanzoy claimed 15 ballot boxes of Ghani from northern Baghlan province had been tampered with. He called for a special examination of the 15 ballot boxes. But IEC officials dismissed Sultanzoy’s assertion. Based on the UN strategy, both candidates have accepted the special audit of 6,000 ballot boxes. The recounted ballots have excluded from the special audit.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 04:40:56 +0000
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