IEC begins Kabul votes recount based on original tally sheets

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Tuesday started ballot recounting at 183 polling stations of central capital Kabul based on the original tally sheets, a process previously carried out based on ballot boxes but cancelled two days back.

Two days ago, the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) cancelled inspection and recount of Kabul votes from 183 polling stations out of 558 and said the recount of Kabul votes would restart based on originally tally sheets of the Election Day.

The IECC said Kabul elections would be probably invalidated if the vote recount process based on tally sheets faced any issues.

A credible source at the IEC, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the commission had decided to start recount of Kabul votes based on tally sheets of the Election Day following the IECC decision to cancel recount and inspection of the votes (based on ballot boxes).

“We started the vote counting process based on tally sheets in presence of candidates’ representatives, political parties, election oversight institutes and civil society activists today,” the official said.

However, the IEC did not provide details as how much time the vote recount process would take.

The Wolesi Jirga elections were held on October 20 and 21 across the country except Ghazni province.