A day after supporters of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah took to the streets in Kabul demanding the removal of hundreds of thousands of “fraudulent votes”, the Independent Election Commission said on Saturday that it cannot invalidate votes before carrying out recount and audit.
On Friday, thousands of Abdullah’s supporters took to the streets demanding the removal of 300,000 votes they said were non-biometric and fraudulent.
IEC has completed recounting and auditing process in 27 provinces of the country, but Abdullah’s supporters have blocked the process in the remaining seven provinces.
In a statement, IEC said that it cannot invalidate votes before carrying out audit and recount.
It urged candidates to cooperate with the commission in recounting and auditing in the remaining provinces.
It reiterated that only those votes will be validated which are cast using biometric verification process.
