Poll recount in the remaining seven provinces will be completed in three days, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said on Saturday.
IEC had begun partial recount of votes from September 28 presidential election on November 9, but the process was blocked by protestors in seven provinces.
On Friday, Abdullah called on his supporters to allow IEC to start the ballot re-tally on Sunday.
“After the election, the great Afghan people raised their voice against ‘fraud.’ They organized protests to halt fraud by the election commission in the provinces,” said Abdullah.
He said that the main clash currently is between “fraud” and transparency and that he will never accept any result which he believes will be “infected with fraud.”
“We will never accept any partial, preliminary or final results that are fraudulent,” he said.
“One side ‘rigged’ 700,000 votes, but the other side wants only transparency, and demands legal actions defined by the election law,” he said.
Abdullah noted that the election commission has not acted on its legal responsibilities and it has failed to convince the Afghan people, candidates and the election observers about transparency in the elections.
Abdullah also stated that under no circumstances will they accept 102,000 “votes cast beyond the official time” or the 137,000 questionable votes; however, he said that it’s a first step to show “goodwill” — and he asked the IEC to reconsider its decisions. Abdullah is referring to votes which were registered with biometric devices but that had a timestamp falling outside of the legal voting hours. The IEC has claimed that user error and other practical issues caused the problem, not fraud.
Meanwhile, IEC said that it would start recount and audit in Panjshir, Jawzjan, Baghlan, Sar-i Pul, Faryab, Takhar and Badakhshan on Sunday (today).
Election commissioner Awrangzeb said the commission dispatched its technical teams to the provinces for the process which he said would take three days.
The recount in the provinces involves votes from 1,400 polling stations.
Supporters of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah had blocked the process, citing concerns about the addition of 300,000 questionable votes.
Fraidoon Khawazon, a spokesman for Abdullah’s electoral team, said that the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission would address the issue.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Fayaz, IECC’s deputy spokesman, said the commission was ready to address all the electoral complaints following the announcement of preliminary results, including the 300,000 questionable votes.
