KABUL - The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Thursday said that a list of roughly 1,000 polling centers to be investigated in connection with allegations of fraud would be shared with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the votes from those centers would be excluded from the counting process until they are verified.
ECC officials acknowledged openly that the investigations could impact the election results, which are expected to bring on a runoff vote scheduled for late May. They also expressed concerns that certain government and non-governmental interests would try to interfere with the investigation process.
"There are up to 1,000 centers whose lists have been seperated, with the only difference that some of the centers will be inspected completely and some of them partially," ECC Deputy Walid Akbar Sarwari said. "We have shared these topics with the election commission and today the IEC has started the process in the presence of our delegation."
According to Sarwari, 50 percent of the investigations have been completed and the next step will be to decide how to handle the findings. The ECC's decisions are expected to be announced publicly.
On Wednesday, the ECC said that there were some 892 complaint cases being investigated that directly pertained to the counting process. The IEC also announced that recounts would soon begin for 31 out of the 34 provinces in light of discoveries made involving fraudulent votes.
"We are seriously concerned about security threats faced by our staff in the provinces and also from the interference of elements that want to meddle in this process," Sarwari said. "We will move forward in a transparent and neutral manner and will not surrender to pressures, but when the pressures are beyond our capacity, we will tell the nation."
The IEC is expected to announced the preliminary results of the presidential election by April 24, and the final results on May 14.
"Politicians are trying to infiltrate inside the commission and its decisions, if the election commission establishes a strong barrier that can prevent infiltration from outsiders - whether it is the government, powerful figures or politicians - this would be their great success," former IEC chief Fazel Ahmad Manavi told TOLOnews.
ECC officials have said that the number of complaints filed has increased, with now 2,122 complaints having been received with evidence. From that number, 1,339 are against IEC staff members, 456 are against presidential candidates and the remaining 527 complaints are targeted at provincial council candidates. (Tolonews)