The Stability and Convergence team led the Chief Executive of the National Unity Government, Dr. Abdullah, has decided to allow vote recount and audit in the remaining seven provinces, where his supporters had blocked the process for almost a month. Speaking at a press conference late on Friday night after meeting with his political allies and supporters, Abdullah called on his supporters to let the Independent Election Commission (IEC) proceed with the vote recount and audit process in the remaining seven provinces. Abdullah said his team agreed to the vote recount in the seven provinces at the behest of the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC), reiterating his stance on the invalidation of 300,000 “fraudulent” votes. He warned that they would never accept fraud-riddled partial, preliminary or final results, and allow a repeat of the bitter experience of the formation of the National Unity Government as a cumbersome compromise between him and incumbent President Ghani, which was brokered by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry after the bitterly disputed 2014 presidential election.
The permission to complete vote recount and audit in the seven provinces is a positive step. The September 28 presidential election has effectively pushed Afghanistan to the brink of another electoral crisis, which can further deteriorate the situation if not tactfully handled. Now that the okay has been given to IEC to resume the vote recount, it has to perform its duties quickly and transparently, and declare the preliminary and then the final results of the election as early as possible.
Electoral fraud and disputes have seriously eroded public’s trust in the democratic process. By learning lessons from the previous elections, the electoral institutions were expected to conduct and manage the election in such a way that would be acceptable to all sides. But unfortunately, a delay of over two months in the announcement of results due to allegations of fraud and other technical problems in the election further undermined public confidence in the national process. In defiance of Taliban threats, Afghan people turned out to participate in the presidential election, but the election commission failed to respect their votes by ensuring electoral transparency.
Presently, the trust deficit between IEC and the presidential teams has prevented the announcement of election results. The candidates are accusing the election body of favoring a specific presidential team, while the commission considers the candidates a barrier to the announcement of election results. With the permission now granted to IEC to initiate the vote recounting process in the remaining seven provinces, IEC must transparently execute its duties, and pay the way for acceptance of results by securing the trust of all candidates who should also, in turn, respect the decisions IEC independently makes, thereby helping the country emerge victorious of this litmus test.
