Elections
IEC Records 1.7 Million Biometric Votes in 85% of Polling Stations
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday said that the biometrically verified turnout of 85% of polling stations is at 1.7 million voters.
“All information of more than one million voters have been transferred to the main server and we have uploaded 22,916 result sheets into the system,” said Hawa Alam Nuristani, the Chairperson of IEC during a press conference on Monday.
According to IEC officials, once the data of the remaining 3,980 polling stations are added to the system, the voter turnout will drop to about two million voters.
The remaining data is expected to be uploaded in a day or two, an official said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass visited the election commission on Wednesday.
Speaking with the reporters at the IEC main campus in Kabul, Ambassador Bass said that Washington supports the decision by the Independent Election Commission to validate only biometric votes.
The top U.S. diplomat emphasized on the independence of electoral management authorities and said they have full support of the United States.
“We also discussed the importance of clarifying to the Afghan people how many polling centers and polling stations were closed and where they were located, so as the biometric process goes forward, people have confidence that the electronic results reflects the physical results,” he said.
The U.S. official further stressed the need for the sovereignty and independence of the Afghan electoral commissions.
I support the diligent efforts of @ECCAfghanistan and @AfghanistanIEC as they work for #Afghanistan. To protect the integrity of the vote, I support the IEC decision to count only biometrically-verified ballots. pic.twitter.com/WMCbZ0EmdP
— John R. Bass (@USAmbKabul) October 14, 2019
“I have reinforced with the commission the commitment of the United States to supporting the independence of the electoral commissions and supporting their ability to achieve the right conclusion. I have reinforced with the commission the importance that we put on the integrity of the vote which means the integrity of the ballot process,” he stated.
This comes as the Independent Election Commission previously announced that the turnout was more than 2.7 million voters.
Despite Taliban’s repeated threats, the Afghan presidential election was held on September 28.
The preliminary results is scheduled to be announced on Oct. 19 and final ones on Nov. 7.
If none of the candidates win over 50 percent of votes in the first round, the two leading candidates will enter a runoff.
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