KABUL - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today urged the candidates in the country’s Presidential elections, as well as their supporters, to respect the work of the two national electoral institutions – the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission – as vote counting is underway.

“I commend the IEC and the IECC on their preparations for the elections and the improved process on election day. Along with the security institutions, they provided the Afghan people with the opportunity to show their determination to vote,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Ján Kubiš.

“However, the process is not yet complete,” he added. “Votes must be counted, complaints resolved fairly and efficiently, and the two bodies must cooperate closely to release the results in a transparent and timely manner.”

Mr. Kubiš made the comments following a meeting on Monday with the IEC Chairperson, Dr. Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, and the IECC Chairperson, Abdul Satar Saadat.

The UN official noted that it is now vitally important to protect the impartiality and credibility of the election process so that the millions of ballots cast by voters can be translated into a legitimate outcome that is broadly accepted by the Afghan people.

In addition to urging Presidential candidates and their supporters to respect the work of the IEC and IECC, Mr. Kubiš called on them to await the release of official results.

He also counselled them against making premature announcements based on unofficial counts, which could lead to confusion.

Preliminary nationwide results are slated to be made public by the IEC on 24 April, with the final results announced on 14 May, after the formal adjudication of all complaints. The IEC will officially announce the first set of partial preliminary results once it has counted five per cent of the vote from twenty provinces.