19 September 2010 - Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC), the body responsible for running Saturday’s countrywide parliamentary elections, said today that further counting now showed the number of votes recorded as more than four million.

IEC Chairman Fazal Ahmad Manawi told a press conference that votes had now been gathered from 22 out of a total of 35 Afghan constituencies in all parts of the country.

Mr. Manawi also said that the bodies of three election staff had been found in northern Balkh province. Throughout Saturday’s election there were reports of security incidents from many parts of the country, though with detailed information yet to come from many remote areas it will be some time before the full picture is clear.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement after the close of polls commending Afghan voters "for their courage and determination in exercising their democratic right to vote" amid what he described as "significant security challenges."

Speaking to media today, Staffan de Mistura, the UN's top envoy in Afghanistan, said that it was too early to call the election a success.

"It is now up to the Afghan electoral bodies, the IEC and the Complaints Commission, to complete their job," he said. "The IEC must check all the ballots and electoral materials and do this thoroughly according to the procedures before we can know what the final turnout of voters and valid votes was," he said of the IEC's role in the coming weeks. "And the Complaints Commission must hear each individual complaint made to it about irregularities."

Acknowledging the work of the Afghan electoral bodies so far, the Secretary-General pointed toward the process of counting and finalising the results of the ballot as he called on parties "to use appropriate legal channels to file complaints and asks for patience as the electoral authorities complete the process in accordance with the law."

More than 2,500 candidates are vying for the 249 seats in Afghanistan's lower house of parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga (the people's house), including almost 400 women candidates. In Kabul, the IEC will record, check and verify results as part of the process of assessing the final results of the election. Provisional results are likely to be announced around 8 October, but final results are not expected until the end of the month.

The parliamentary elections are fully Afghan organized and conducted. The IEC is responsible for conducting the parliamentary elections, while the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) considers and decides on all complaints related to the election.

The ECC said in a press release on Sunday that after the polls had closed, it had received 126 officially registered written complaints at its Kabul headquarters and as reported by its 34 Provincial Electoral Complaints Commissions. It reiterated that “the results of all adjudications will be reported in due course.”

The United Nations is providing technical and logistical support to these two independent Afghan electoral institutions, in response to a formal request by the Government in January 2010, through the UNDP-ELECT programme. UNAMA supports the elections as part of Afghanistan's wider political process and its support for the strengthening of democracy, but UNAMA has no role in implementing, supervising or monitoring the polls.