Dubai: A growing number of Western officials are calling for an audit of the ballots cast in the Afghan presidential election, increasing the likelihood that the nation’s electoral commission will have to formally reassess the June 14 runoff vote.
Those results were due to be released at 2pm Kabul time on Monday but were delayed and, as the day progressed, looked increasingly unlikely to be released.
Last evening, rival presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Gani were in talks to try to resolve the standoff.
Even if Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission releases its results, Abdullah has said he is unwilling to accept them and that the ballot had been tainted by “industrial-scale fraud”.
The deadlock over the June 14 second round run-off has quashed hopes for a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan, a headache for the West as most US-led forces continue to withdraw from the country this year.
As the 2pm deadline passed, the rival camps struggled to find a last-minute compromise to keep Afghanistan from sliding into a protracted period of uncertainty without a clear leader accepted by all sides.
According to unofficial tallies, Gani — an ally of outgoing president Hamid Karzai — is reported to have received a million more votes than Abdullah.
On Monday, Gaani’s camp said the two sides had agreed to audit an additional 7,100 polling stations to ensure the final result is clean but Abdullah’s aides said that compromise was not final.
Both rounds of the vote to elect a successor to Karzai have been plagued by accusations of mass fraud, and the refusal by either candidate to accept the outcome could split the fragile country along ethnic lines.
Abdullah, a former anti-Taliban fighter, insists results should be delayed until all fraudulent votes have been thrown out.
“Our meetings continued until midnight [Sunday] and there were some improvements but we haven’t reached final agreement,” said Mujibul Rahman Rahimi, a spokesperson for Abdullah.
Azita Rafhat, a spokesperson for Gani’s camp, said the two sides had agreed to expand the fraud investigation beyond the 1,930 polling stations that are currently being audited.
“We have agreed to audit ballots from 7,100 polling stations in 10 provinces for more transparency,” Azita said.
Abdullah, who has a Pashtun father and a Tajik mother, draws much of his support from the Tajik minority in northern Afghanistan. Gani, a former World Bank economist, has strong support from Pashtun tribes in the country’s south and east.
Abdullah has accused Karzai, also a Pashtun, of playing a role in the alleged rigging in Gani’s favour and says he would accept the vote only if he saw firm evidence that fraudulent votes had been thrown out and the final result was clean.
In the background, Taliban insurgents continue to pose a formidable security risk after vowing to disrupt the election process. On Monday, they killed a district police chief in the western city of Herat and attacked a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan.
Abdullah has spent weeks threatening to walk away from the process. He has called the system illegitimate, staged protests and leaked numerous tapes purporting to show election officials conspiring to rig the election in favour of Gani.
Abdullah’s brinkmanship appears to be paying off. Despite their earlier efforts to avoid the appearance of involvement in the Afghan elections, some international figures have decided to take action, recognising the potential that the political crisis has to turn violent and threaten long-term Western interests in Afghanistan.
On Sunday, US Senator Carl Levin, now in Kabul, raised the prospect of a dual announcement on Monday, in which Afghan officials would both release preliminary results and announce an audit that would be satisfactory to both candidates.
Hours later, however, Abdullah pressed the commission to delay the announcement of the final vote count fearful that any fraudulent figures could work against him. It was unclear whether the election commission would go through with the release, as promised. The commission has so far delayed results on more than one occasion to help ease the political crisis.
— Compiled from agencies
