KABUL - A spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Friday said that a proposal for the vote auditing process has been submitted to election officials despite the fact that the two presidential candidates failed to agree on the criteria to be used.
"We want the IEC to make a decision, time is limited and both candidates could not agree on the criteria," UNAMA spokesman Neelab Mubarez said.
According to Mubarez, the proposal, which has been delivered to the Independent Election Commission (IEC), suggests public hearings be held by IEC Commissioners in the presence of UN representatives, observers and media.
While welcoming the implementation of the proposal, Abdullah Abdullah's campaign team said that they expect some of their suggestions to be included in the proposal. The campaign team has advocated a larger role for the UN during the auditing process because of its mistrust of the election commissions.
"After a week of discussions over the criteria, the text of the proposal was brought by the Deputy of UN to Dr. Abdullah last night," Abdullah spokesman Said Agha Fazel Sancharaki said on Friday. "Dr. Abdullah shared his considerations, and we want the UN to implement the proposal as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai's campaign team has acknowledged disagreements over the invalidation of votes, but expressed faith in the IEC.
"There are differences in views, but the differences are not a major issue, UNAMA has proposed a layout, it is the job of the IEC based on the law, which we respect," Ashraf Ghani spokesman and former presidential candidate Daud Sultanzoy said.
Based on the copy of the UN proposal received by TOLOnews, the following points comprise the recommendations for when to invalidate votes:
1. If ballots boxes are not in the same condition as when they were distributed by the IEC for the runoff.
2. Ballot boxes that do not have ballots, or ballots without a stamp, or if ballots are not marked according to standards, or if ballots are marked identically.
3. Presence of reports of use power and force during ballot counting and loss of election material.
4. Ballot boxes where lists of voters are either missing, is blank, or 33 percent of the ballot papers are not stamped in the ballot box, or not marked according to procedure.
5. Ballot boxes that are broken or the ballots are damaged to the point where chances of theft are seen.
6. Two or more seals of the ballot boxes are broken or chances of theft are seen.
Some election monitors have expressed concerns about the lack of agreement between the candidates over the exact criteria for invalidating votes during the audit.
"If these groups do not agree, the process will last longer and will face challenges and further problems," warned Muhammad Fahim Naeemi, spokesman for the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA). "Both presidential campaigns must agree on it."
With the UN proposal now with the IEC table, it is only a matter of time before it is either finalized or rejected. It is said that if the audit continues without the criteria in place, separating clean and fraudulent votes will be difficult. (Tolonews)