Electoral bodies be praised for vote integrity: Kubiš

KABUL on Saturday welcomed the release of preliminary results from the April 5 vote and said the Afghan electoral bodies should be commended for their work to make the process more transparent than ever before.

“They should also be commended for their efforts to protect the integrity of the election process and the votes of the people, while doing their utmost to work in accordance with the electoral timetable, ”  said Ján Kubiš, said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.

Also the UNAMA bead, Kubiš said the Independent Election Commission (IEC) should be acknowledged for their serious effort to separate clean from fraudulent votes before releasing the preliminary results, which he called as an important step towards next month’s final results.

The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) is tasked with adjudicating electoral complaints and the IEC will final results due on 14 May only after the adjudication is completed.

 “It is now of fundamental importance that the IECC continues to carry out its obligations to address complaints, notably related to the preliminary results in a professional, expeditious and open manner,” Kubiš said.

He said the IEC and IECC needed to coordinate closely their work to ensure that credible complaints were properly handled and that the integrity of the electoral process safeguarded.

Looking forward to the release of the final results, Kubiš called for all presidential candidates and their supporters to display respect for the process and the national electoral institutions authorized to lead the process.

pr/ma

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