On Saturday 26 April, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) announced the long-awaited preliminary results of April 5th presidential election putting Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 44.9% of votes followed by Dr. Ashraf GhaniAhmadzai at 31.5% and Dr. ZalmaiRasoul at 11.5%. Prior to that the IEC announced three rounds of partials results based on 10%, 49.67% and 82.59% of vote count on 13, 20, 24 April respectively . Neglecting the first partial results which was limited to 26 provinces and was criticized because the IEC did not say it had separated invalid/fake votes from valid ones, it is quite amazing the percentages votes obtained by the candidates have fluctuated only by 1% in second and third partial results and the recently announced preliminary result based on 100% of vote count.

The results of three leading candidates in second and third partial results and preliminary results, for example, are: Dr. Abdullah got 44.4%, 43.7% and 44.9% respectively, Dr. Ashraf Ghani got 33.2%, 32.9% and 31.5% respectively and Dr. ZalmaiRasoul got 10.2%, 11.1% and 11.5% respectively. The figures indicate that from 50% to 100% of vote count, the number of votes received by three leading candidates have gone up or down by only around 1%. A question develops here that whether the IEC is really counting the people’s votes or is just making estimations. How the votes of the people of Afghanistan are so uniform? No doubt literacy rate is low in Afghanistan but it does not mean the people are not noticing that IEC is messing with their votes. They are concerned.

It seems the IEC officials are deliberately trying to drag the elections into the second round on the instructions of ruling elite so that ground for political make and break can be provided. Indeed, the IEC chief and its other high authorities have been trying to inject that idea of run-off election in the minds of the people days before the preliminary results were announced.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai who stands second has expressed willingness to contest Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in the second round although he needs more than 18.5% votes to hit the winning mark. On contrast, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah who is only more that 5.1% votes away from winning does not talk of intentions for going into the second round and is waiting for the final results and investigation of electoral complaints.

And the final words are that the people of Afghanistan voted enthusiastically on April 5th defying all threats from Taliban and other terror groups. Their spirit was praised at international level. Nonetheless, the way the IEC has been dealing with post-election issues has created waves of disappointment among the masses. Its autonomy is now under serious doubts.