KABUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2020) The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said on Sunday that the presidential election ballots cast at approximately 3,000 polling sites needed recount, as the authority checked complaints into preliminary results of September's vote in 28 provinces of the country.
"We have made decisions [on the number of polling sites that need recount] in 28 provinces and the decisions on the remaining six provinces will also be announced on Monday," ECC Commissioner Syed Qutbuddin Royadar said.
Royadar added that the ECC informed Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on the results of its investigation so that the authorities could make preparations for the vote recount. However, the election commission has said that ECC has not shared its plans yet.
"We are fully prepared to comply with the decisions of the Complaint Commission in regards to ballot inspection and recounting, but no comprehensive plan was shared by ECC so far," IEC Secretary Habib Nang said.
The presidential election in Afghanistan was held on September 28, but the results have been postponed due to audit. In late December, preliminary results were announced, showing that incumbent President Ashraf Ghani was in the lead, while the Afghan government's Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, came in second and challenged the results. By December 26, the ECC said it had received more than 16,000 complaints about the preliminary results of the election.
