KABUL - The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday urged the presidential runners to avoid releasing fake surveys and opinion polls about poll results.

At a news conference in Kabul, Dr. Yousaf Nuristani said the credibility of such surveys was far from established in the eyes of the two commissions. People should not be confused with rumours, he stressed.

Nuristani asked presidential hopefuls to wait for IEC’s official announcement of election results and keep their supporters from spreading misleading reports.

Presently, the two electoral bodies were processing votes, he said. After next Tuesday, partial results from provinces would be made public every three days until April 24.

Preliminary results of Saturday’s polls are scheduled to be announced on April 24 and the final outcome on May 24.

Speaking on the occasion, Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) Chairperson Abdul Sattar Sadat said more than 3,000 fraud-related complaints had been recorded so far. 

Most of the complaints are against IEC employees. If found valid, , the complaints would lead to invalidation of votes, he said, rejecting claims of ballot paper scarcity as groundless. (Pajhwok)