Kabul
24 August 2009
 |
| U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide during a press conference at the Electoral Complaints Commission in Kabul, 25 Aug 2009 |
U.N. special envoy Kai Eide has met with members of Afghanistan's Election Complaints Commission in the capital. The watchdog group, partly appointed by the U.N., is overseeing the complaints of voter fraud and other irregularities reported since last week's balloting.
Under Afghan law, official results cannot be announced until serious complaints are adjudicated.
Eide, speaking to reporters, is calling for patience to allow the process to be completed, saying he is not surprised by the slow pace of the vote count.
"I do appeal to the candidates and to their campaigns and also to the voters to demonstrate the patience and calm that is required for the ECC [Election Complaints Commission] to carry out its work in order to make sure that when we look back at the entire election process that we can say that it had the credibility that is required," said Kai Eide.
Both the campaigns of incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his top challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, accuse the other of illegal campaign activities and tampering with the voting process.
U.N. envoy Eide acknowledges there have been problems.
"There is no doubt that there have been irregularities during the polling day," he said. "There have been irregularities before the polling day, as you know."
 |
| News conference of Afghan Independent Election Commission in Kabul (Daoud Ali Najafi, center) |
The Afghan Independent Election Commission says tallies from 2,400 polling stations in several provinces will be released Tuesday. Complete nationwide preliminary results may not come for about another 10 days.
There will be a run-off election in the presidential contest if no candidate captures more than 50 percent of the vote.