While waiting for an announcement of authoritative results by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), US urge “both candidates and voters not to prejudge the outcome of the election or speculate on partial returns.” said a spokesperson for US Department of State.
A statement from the department about Afghan presidential election results added that Afghan government institutions and leaders must be transparent and accountable.
“We expect Afghanistan’s institutions to take all necessary steps to ensure the election, including the investigation of complaints and tabulation of results, is transparent and credible to Afghan voters and the international community.” said the spokesperson.
TheDepartment of State also applaud the courage of poll workers, security forces and Afghan voters despite the challenges they faced.
The department also condemns all attacks on voters and other efforts to undermine the election. “These attacks stand in stark contrast to the aspirations of the Afghan people for peace, security, and economic stability.” the spokesperson further added.
There were more than 400 attacks, mostly small-scale, carried out by the militants, according to the Afghanistan Analysts Network.
As many as eight election staff were kidnapped on Saturday evening by the Taliban in central Parwan province’s Shinwari district, the provincial governor’s spokeswoman said.
Two policemen and one civilian were killed in mostly small-scale Taliban attacks, and 37 people were injured, the interior ministry said.
The IEC announced that over one million voters had voted in more than 2 thousand polling centers.
“Based on reports, for 2597 centers, the voter turnout was 1 million 51,998 voters,” the IEC announced Sunday, adding that “reports of over 2 thousand centers have not been reached yet.”
According the electoral commissions, a total of 4905 polling centers have received electoral materials.
At least 2.2 million people voted in Afghanistan’s presidential election with more votes to come, the election commission head Maulana Abdullah said on Sunday.
There were 9.67 million voters registered ahead of the election. Abdullah said turnout numbers had been received so far from 3,736 of 4,756 polling centers nationwide. Almost 800 centers had still to report their figures and the status of more than 200 other centers was also unclear.
However, a total of 2,275 complaints have been filed in the by Saturday, said theIndependent Electoral Complaints Commission.
Preliminary results are not expected before Oct. 19 and final results not until Nov. 7. If no candidate gets over half of the votes, a second round will be held between the two leading candidates.
