Afghan electoral body starts audit of results of Presidential election run-off

17 Jul 2014

Afghan electoral body starts audit of results of Presidential election run-off

KABUL - One of Afghanistan’s electoral management bodies, the Independent Election Commission (IEC), today started the audit of the ballots cast in the country’s Presidential election run-off held on 14 June.

“More than 8.1 million votes from 22,822 polling sites will be transferred from provinces to the centre by the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), and will be audited in the presence of the representatives of candidates, international and national observers, civil society and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC),” said the IEC Chairman, Ahmed Yusuf Nuristani, at a press conference to launch the audit in the capital, Kabul.

He said that the audit may take up to three weeks to finish and that the IEC has 100 teams to carry out the auditing over two shifts on a daily basis.

For weeks, both Presidential candidates - Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai - had requested a full investigation of serious and credible allegations of fraud and have strongly urged measures that would separate fraudulent ballots from valid votes. UNAMA had shared these concerns and supported an extensive and thorough investigation and audit.

At a news conference attended by the two candidates last weekend, the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, announced the audit plan which had been agreed on by the two candidates with his facilitation.

"Both candidates have committed to participate in and stand by the results of the largest possible audit. Every single ballot that was cast will be audited, all eight million," Mr. Kerry said. "The winner will serve as president and will immediately form a government of national unity."

The audit is being conducted by the IEC under close and extensive international supervision led by the United Nations. The Director of the UN Secretariat’s Electoral Assistance Division, Craig Jenness, is in Kabul to supervise the preparations for this unprecedented audit and its start, and the IEC is being assisted by the UN Development Programme’s Enhancing Legal And Electoral Capacity For Tomorrow II (UNDP ELECT II) experts.

At today’s press conference, the IEC Chairman thanked Mr. Kerry and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afgahnistan, Ján Kubiš, for their "sincere and impartial" efforts in breaking the impasse that had arisen over the fraud concerns. In his remarks at the news conference, Mr. Jenness assured Afghans of the world body’s commitment to the entirety of the process.

After its completion, Mr. Nuristani said, the audit results will be submitted to the IECC and the candidates will have 24 hours to submit any complaints they may have in relation to the audit results. He added that the IECC will have 48 hours to adjudicate the complaints and submit its decision to the IEC ahead of its announcement of the final results.

He noted that while 30 teams began work on the audit today, the IEC was awaiting the arrival of more international observers in order to increase the number of teams.

In a statement issued following today’s news conference, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which Mr. Kubiš heads, welcomed the start of the audit.

The UN Mission said the “comprehensive and thorough, internationally-observed audit provides the way to strengthen the credibility of the country’s electoral process and acceptance of the run-off results by both campaigns and all Afghans, with the ultimate goal of helping Afghanistan on its path to a peaceful, stable, united and prosperous future.”

Related stories:

- UNAMA chief hails Independent Election Commission's efforts to start implementing audit plan

- Following audit announcement, Kubiš congratulates Afghan Presidential candidates on statesmanship