Afghan election body has yet to announce election result although 6 weeks on

Even though six weeks have passed from Sept. 18 when millions of war-weary Afghans dared Taliban threats and cast their ballots in the country's second parliamentary election, the final results have yet to come out.

The preliminary results of Afghanistan's second parliamentary elections since the collapse of Taliban regime in late 2001, held amid tight security was announced on Oct. 20 with surfacing over 50 percent new faces.

However, the names of dozens of the sitting parliamentarians including speaker for the Lower House of the parliament Mohammad Yunus Qanooni, the government's critic Ramazan Bashardost and a few more had topped the winners list.

The final result, according to election timeline set up by Afghanistan Independent Election Commission (IEC), was expected on Oct. 30.

Nevertheless, registering thousands of complaints by voters, candidates and election observers have slowed down the process and caused postponement.

Ahmad Zia Rafat, a commissioner and spokesman for the UN-backed Electoral Complaint Commission (ECC) said last Thursday that so far the complaint commission had received nearly 6,000 complaints and out of these, more than 2,500 are serious and could affect the election results if proved.

"The ECC has adjudicated almost 70 percent of more than 2,500 of electoral complaints which has been triaged and categorized as group (A) or serious allegations that would affect the results at polling stations level," Rafat said.

ECC is composed of five members including two international commissioners.

The complaints registered with ECC, according to the official, include using state machinery, influencing election workers at polling stations, stuffing ballot boxes illegally, double voting, vote-rigging and using faked voting cards.

Ballot papers in more than 400 polling stations, according to Rafat, have been mulled and voided.

Final result of Afghanistan's second legislative elections since the fall of Taliban regime in late 2001, due on two weeks would not be announced until all the allegations and complaints are adjudicated

Originally, IEC and security bodies had planned to open over 19, 000 polling stations across the country and only 17,700 had remained open on the election day enabling voters to cast their votes.

Finally around 5.6 million votes were casted on the ballot boxes on the poll day in the country's 34 provinces and of these 1. 3 million votes had been invalidated by election body after processing.

More than 2,500 people including over 400 women had contested the parliamentary elections on Sept. 18 to secure seat in the 249- seat Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament in the post-Taliban Afghanistan.

According to the Afghan electoral law, final results cannot be announced until all complaints are adjudicated.

Announcing election result would at least take two weeks more as ECC spokesman Rafat expressed hope last week that Afghans could see the final result before Eidul Adha or Eidul Qurban the biggest annual religious festival falling on Nov. 15.

Source:Xinhua