Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Kabul (BNA) After series of discussions and assessments, finally the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the preliminary results of runoff elections in presence of national and international delegations and media. At a press conference on Monday, the IEC Chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani announced the preliminary results of the presidential elections and reported that turnouts in the runoff elections were more than eight million.
“The total number of votes casted in favor of Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is around 4, 485, 888 votes while the votes casted in favor of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is about 3, 461, 639 votes which puts Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on the lead with 56.44 while Dr. Abdullah 43.56 percent,” IEC Chairman Nuristani said. Nuristani announced holding of the elections as one of the major examination of the people of Afghanistan and said that the people of Afghanistan by voting in the elections accomplished their national obligation. “People by voting in the elections proved that they strongly believe on democracy in their country, the election commissions by considering its national and moral obligations announce the preliminary results after assessments and negotiations and according to the election calendar and timeline,” Nuristani said. “Male turnouts were around 62 percent in the run-off elections while female turnouts were around 37 percent.”
In addition Mr. Nuristani confirmed that the preliminary results don’t mean the final results, because the election commission still reinvestigating the votes.
“The preliminary results shouldn't be considered as final results, we demand the candidates and their supporters to stay calm until the final results are announced,” Nuristani added.
Meanwhile, a number of political analysts have said if a political solution wasn’t found to the ongoing electoral deadlock, the preliminary results announcement will not resolve the ongoing issue and electoral tensions. Elaborating on the issue of electoral frauds and transparency, university lecturer Jafar Kohistani said that in the first step the issue of frauds and rigging should be investigated and a positive settlement is required to overcome on the issue of electoral frauds and rigging that had happened during the elections.
“The preliminary results will never decide on the final results of the elections, a comprehensive way should be found to settle the issue, national unity must be protected and in the first step, cases of frauds and rigging should be investigated,” Jafar Kohistani said. “With the announcement of the preliminary results, the election commission proved that it had acted partially, in the first step, the fake and illegal votes should have been discarded from the genuine votes and they should have been thrown out from the system.”
“However, the election process is bounded to the time and it should be prolonged, but transparency of elections is quite important issue, this is at a time that one of the engaged parties in the election process stresses on the transparency and a moderate way should be considered,” former IEC secretariat chief Zekrya Barakzai said.
A number of senators have expressed different views about the preliminary results announcement and emphasize that the fake votes must discarded. The senator said that the preliminary results will not settle the issue.
In response to the preliminary results announcement, Abdullah Abdullah campaign team announced that they do not accept the preliminary results and stressed that the fake votes should be separated from the genuine votes to ensure transparency and credibility of the elections. But, Ashraf Ghani campaign has welcomed the preliminary results and said that it is the duty of the election commission to announce the election results on time. In the meantime, a number of citizens have said that the election should have investigated all criticisms and complaints regarding the elections. People must safeguard their national unity and do not allow new crisis to sabotage the election process and harm the country. Public mandate should be protected as they voted under highly tense security situations.
