Presidential audit process delayed until fourth day of Eid

KABUL: (Middle East Press) The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) announced Saturday that the audit process of presidential vote has been delayed until after Eid ceremony.

IEC Chief, Ahmad Yousuf Nuristnai told reporters that the audit process has been temporarily halted until the fourth day of Eid.

Nuristani further added that the audit process was suspended after the electoral teams failed to submit with the audit procedure.

He claimed that the audit process will not be resumed until the two electoral teams did not sign the UN proposal.

The vote audit from the runoff presidential election was halted for the third time on Saturday morning with reports suggesting that Dr. Abdullah’s team pulled out from the audit process due to the lack of interpretation of article 12 and 16 of audit check list.

However, the UN mission in Afghanistan said Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani, have indicated to the United Nations that they support the Independent Election Commission (IEC) adopting the UN proposal for a regulatory decision covering criteria for recounts and invalidation of ballots.

A statement released by UNAMA said the United Nations had presented its proposal to the IEC on 24 July in the context of the technical agreement reached by the two Presidential candidates, which asked the UN to propose the manner for the supervision of the audit.

The statement further added that both candidates indicated to the United Nations that they had their own respective concerns with the proposal, but were prepared to continue with it as a good faith effort based on international best practice to bridge their positions.

UNAMA added in its statement, Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ghani expressed their shared view that it was in the national interest to finalize the dogmatic framework of the audit.