IEC continues vote count, ready to answer complaints

KABUL) chairman on Thursday stressed the need for continuing the vote-counting process, saying they were ready to address satisfactorily the candidates’ complaints.

Ahmad Yousaf Nuristani told a news conference the commission could not halt the vote count, but was ready to answer questions from anyone. “IEC is responsible for responding to candidate claims in the presence of Afghan and international observers.”

A day earlier, Dr Abdullah Abdullah accused President Karzai of supporting his rival in Saturday’s runoff election, saying he no longer trusted the electoral bodies. He demanded an immediate stop to the vote-tallying process.

Abdullah said that the vote count was unacceptable to him because none of his observers was overseeing the process any longer.

Nuristani added that so far results from more than 9,000 of the 22,295 polling stations had reached the commission’s head office. All results will reach Kabul tomorrow.

He explained result sheets from different provinces were viewed in the presence of Afghan and foreign observers today. “The result sheets containing mistakes or overwriting are referred to investigators. But we continue counting the votes.”

mds/mud

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