Afghan Election Scrutinized

Afghan Chief Executive and presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah demanded a halt to the recent election’s vote recount. (Flickr)

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah called for a halt to the vote recount in the recent presidential elections on November 11, Central Asia News reports.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) was due to release the results of their latest election on October 19 but cited “capacity issues and efforts aimed at ensuring transparency of the process” for their delayed-release.

This election marks the fourth Afghan presidential election characterized by a record-low turnout as well as allegations of fraud and corruption, the Diplomat reports. The initial turnout was around 25 percent, as only around 1.9 million of 9.6 million registered voters cast ballots.

Abdullah demanded a halt to the recount process three days before the announcement of the preliminary results were scheduled to have come out and a day after withdrawing his team’s recount observers.

However, incumbent President Ashraf Ghani, Abdullah’s lead challenger, has not withdrawn from the process.

Many presidential candidates have accused Ghani of embezzling state resources for his campaign, according to Central Asia News. He has also been accused of attempting to manipulate the outcome in his favor. The president’s campaign leaders have denied these allegations.

After review, the IEC discarded nearly a million votes for irregularities. However, Abdullah claims that the IEC has “legitimize[d] fraud” by including votes that were cast outside of the official ballot timeframe.

Previous Afghani elections since the downfall of the Taliban government have been tainted by allegations of corruption. The IEC has incorporated biometric devices in its most recent presidential polls as a result.

Both Ghani and Abdullah have claimed victory. This result resembles the 2014 election when conflict over the victory led to a U.S. brokered power-sharing agreement, but neither side seems to want to accept one today.