Attempts to resume Afghan poll audit stall over criteria for discounting votes
Afghanistan faces fresh uncertainty of its political future as disagreements surface over the methods used to determine invalid votes as the UN struggles to complete election audit
Attempts to resume the audit of Afghanistan’s presidential election stalled on Saturday as candidate Abdullah Abdullah disagreed over the criteria to address alleged fraud in the June run-off election.
Abdullah and rival Ashraf Ghani agreed to the inspection of all 8.1 million ballots cast in the June 14 poll in a deal brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry, but the recount has since faced several suspensions as the candidates sparred over how to disqualify ballots.
The audit had been expected to resume on Saturday after the UN and the country’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) said both candidates had agreed to a UN-backed proposal that included criteria for invalidating fraudulent ballots.
Abdullah’s observers however did not show up at the election commission in Kabul, with his spokesman saying they were still negotiating with the UN.
“The IEC has adopted the UN proposal but we still have our observations,” Abdullah’s spokesman Mujib Rahman Rahimi told reporters.
“What happens today is not a boycott, it is not an attempt to disrupt the process, the issue is on how to maximise the criteria for invalidation,” he said.