KABUL - As the vote audit continues in Kabul, the Independent Election Commission IEC on Saturday affirmed its commitment to completing the process within four weeks.

IEC spokesman Noor Muhammad Noor told reporters that 40 teams of the investigators were auditing the votes in the morning shift and as many in the afternoon. Noori did not say how many ballot boxes were audited.

But Ahmad Yousaf Nuristani, the commission’s chairman, recently said at least 100 teams of auditors would investigate 1,000 boxes on a daily basis. He believes the exercise should end within four weeks.

However, the fact that only 238 ballot boxes have been investigated in the first two days indicates the process may take longer to complete.

Noor explained to auditing more than 20000 ballot boxes, the process would be carried out day and night after the holy month of Ramadan. He said so far no serious issues had arisen during the audit.

Ballot boxes from Balkh, Maidan Wardak and Ghazni provinces have arrived at the IEC headquarters in Kabul. He added ballot boxes from Herat, Kandahar and Helmand were also expected to reach Kabul later in the day.

The ballot boxes are transported in the presence of representatives of both presidential candidates and the United Nations. The task is performed under the umbrella of ISAF.

“A total of 878 observers have registered themselves with us; 346 represent the candidates, 251 international observers and 281 independent Afghans,” Noor said. (Pajhwok)