A total of six of the thirteen candidates for the Presidency of Afghanistan have announced in the last hours that they will not recognize the results of the elections held this Saturday, citing the low participation and denouncing numerous irregularities.
The Independent Electoral Commission (CIS) said Sunday that up to 2.2 million Afghans have participated in the voting of the elections, out of a total of 9.67 million registered voters.
Maulana Mohamad Abdulá, one of the CIS commissioners, explained on Sunday that there are still many polling stations to be counted, as 3,736 of the 4,756 centers have reported, Afghan press reports.
Likewise, almost 800 centers must still report participation. In another 200 polling stations the situation is not clear. The figure is far from the seven million voters of the 2014 elections.
The agency has also confirmed that on Saturday a total of 2,275 complaints had been received for alleged irregularities during the vote, as reported by the local television channel 1TV.
In this context, candidates Ahmad Uali Masud, Abdulatif Padram, Inayatulá Hafiz, Shahb Hakimi, Nur Rahman Leual and Mohamad Hakim Torsan have already announced that they will not recognize the results announced by the CIS.
Nazari Pirani, spokesman for Masud, has estimated the number of voters at 1.5 million and has reported problems with the census, while accusing the CIS of favoring the candidacy of the current president, Ashraf Ghani.
In similar terms Hafiz has pronounced, who has said that the results will not be acceptable due to low participation, security threats and mismanagement by the CIS, as the Afghan news agency Pajhwok has collected.
Likewise, Nisar Ahmad Nisar, a spokesman for Hakimi, said that the majority of voters have not been able to exercise their right and has pointed out that “the elections and the peace talks were united and nobody trusted the elections.”
Leual stressed that he will not accept the results and that, after the announcement of them, he will clearly state his position, while Torsan has also denounced irregularities to support his decision.
For its part, the team of the former ‘lord of war’ and leader of Hezb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has stated that he will accept the results conditionally and has also denounced irregularities.
Fazl Ghani Haqmal, spokesman for the party, has pointed directly to Ghani and the candidacy of the current Prime Minister, Abdulá Abdulá, as responsible for a “huge manipulation” in the elections.
OTHER DOES RECOGNIZE THE VALIDITY OF THE PROCESS
In another order of things, Rahmatulá Nabil’s team has indicated that it will accept the results if the complaints filed before the CIS are investigated effectively, while Ahmad Ihsan Saruayar, spokesman for candidate Faramarz Tamana, has pointed out that, despite the decline participation, irregularities and security incidents, will accept the results.
In contrast, Nauroz Ali Haqyo, spokesman for Nurulá Jalili, has been satisfied with the elections and has appealed to the rest of the candidates to accept the results. “We have not seen any irregularity,” he stressed.
Faridón Juazón, spokesman for Abdulá, has praised for his part that the participation has been “significant” and has applauded the role of the security forces.
In this regard, Ahmad Yaved Ghafur, spokesman for Ghani, has gone further and stressed that participation has been above expectations. “If anyone has a complaint against us, they can go to the electoral commission,” he said.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has applauded the holding of the elections and congratulated those who went to the polls despite concerns about security.
Thus, he has asked all political actors to “allow electoral institutions to exercise their responsibilities as a whole, including addressing any complaints through the appropriate channels and procedures.”
There will be no official results until at least October 17 and the final results are scheduled for November 7. If no candidate achieves 50 percent of the votes there will be a second round that will face the two most voted candidates.
