Hawa Alam Nuristani
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 27, 2019
Afghanistan’s electoral authorities said preliminary results from last month’s presidential election will be delayed for weeks.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the preliminary results of the September 28 election will be announced on November 14.
The preliminary results were originally meant to be released on October 19.
IEC chief Hawa Alam Nuristani told reporters in Kabul on October 27 that the election was a ” fate-determining issue” and that they could not “accept sacrificing transparency for speed.”
The release of the results have been hampered by widespread accusations of misconduct during voting and technical problems with transferring ballot papers and data from the biometric voter verification system.
The postponement is likely to fuel political uncertainty and allegations of fraud.
The two front-runners, President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, have both claimed victory and accused the other of vote-rigging.
If no candidate obtains more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held.
Based on reporting by AFP and AP