The preliminary result of the September 28 presidential election was announced on Sunday after about a three-month delay. According to the official results released by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah are in the lead. Speaking at a press conference, IEC chairwoman Hawa Alam Nuristani said there were a total of 1,824,401 biometric votes cast in the previous presidential ballot, of which President Ghani has won 923,868 (50.64%) votes, Abdullah 720,990 (39.52%), and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 70, 243 (3.85%) votes, and the rest belong to 11 other candidates.
The announcement of initial results is a welcome step as Afghans have impatiently waited for the outcome of their votes for almost three months. The long delay in the announcement of results, and the resultant political uncertainty have badly affected the private sector, with people reluctant to make investments, in addition to paralyzing governance in the country.
The ball is now in the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission’s (IECC) court, and it will determine the fate of the election results. The decision of IECC can plunge Afghanistan into a political crisis or rescue it. In the current delicate situation, even a minor mistake of the commission can have grave ramifications for the nascent democracy and people of Afghanistan. Thus, members of the commission, by realizing their historic responsibility, must transparently investigate all documented complaints within the specific legal timeframe, and pave the way for announcement of final results.
IEC’s failure and mistakes are a good lesson for the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission. It should not delay the remaining steps of the election as much as IEC did. The timeframe for IECC to adjudicate complaints is specified in the country’s applicable laws, which it shall stick to besides ensuring electoral transparency. Afghans have enough waited for the election results, and IECC should not thus further prolong the wait. It has to maintain its independence, not bow down to any pressure and exercise its powers in the light of the country’s laws, thereby setting the stage for the declaration of transparent final result acceptable to both the people and presidential candidates.