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Afghan Presidential Election Spurs 16,500 Complaints

Agence France-Presse

   KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Afghan election authorities received 16,500
   complaints aboutthe handling of this year's presidential election,
   officials said Thursday, days after preliminary results put President
   Ashraf Ghani in place to secure a second term.
   Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced earlier
   this week that Ghani had won a slim 50.64 percent majority in the
   voting onSeptember 28.Thefinal resultsare expected to be announced in
   the coming weeks after the complaints have been reviewed.

   Officials have 15 days to finalize their investigation of the
   complaints and release results to the
   candidates,saidZuhraBayanShinwari, head of the Independent Electoral
   Complaints Commission (ECC).
   If the numbers hold following these investigations, the result is
   enough for Ghani to avoid a runoff. Heeasily beat hislongtimerival,
   Chief Executive AbdullahAbdullah, who scored 39.52 percent.
   According toShinwari, Abdullah's team filed around 8,000 complaints to
   theECCand Ghani handed in over 3,000, while the rest were submitted by
   other candidates.
   Fraud alleged after delays

   Preliminary results originally due October 19 were repeatedly delayed
   for what the IEC said were technical issues. Various candidates,
   particularly Abdullah, alleged fraud.
   Observers and candidates have blasted the IEC forits handling of the
   count and its repeated disregard of the electoral calendar.
   The election was meant to be the cleanest yet in Afghanistan's young
   democracy.
   A German firm supplied biometric machines to stop people from voting
   more than once.
   But allegations of vote stuffing, illegal balloting and other fraud
   came almost as soon as the polls had closed.
   Nearly 1million of the initial 2.7 million votes were purged because of
   irregularities, meaning the election saw by far the lowest turnout of
   any Afghan poll.
   Ultimately, only 1.8 million votes were counted --a tiny number given
   Afghanistan's estimated population of 37 million and a total of 9.6
   million registered voters.
   Abdullah lost to Ghani in 2014 in a divisive election that saw the U.S.
   intervene to broker an awkward power-sharing deal between the two
   rivals.

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