KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) on Wednesday said ballots from 291 of 444 suspected polling sites had been found valid.
IECC Secretary Mohammad Nadir Mohseni said the Independent Election Commission (IEC) had shared with them an assessment of the ballots from the said sites.  
Speaking to journalists at a public hearing in Kabul, he said no vote was cast at 91 polling sites, while ballots from 26 other sites had been ignored for certain other reasons.
Of the 444 sites, ballots from 291 were validated, but votes from 36 other polling stations were declared invalid, Mohseni explained.
Ballots from those sites found blank by the commission, which declared them invalid, the secretary said without elaborating.
The IECC spokesperson urged representatives of candidates to submit their objections to the decision within the stipulated 24 hours.
Based on preliminary results, Dr. Abdullah stood first with 44.9 percent or 2,973,706 of votes followed by Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai with 31.5 percent or 2,082,417 ballots.
As a result of the latest development, another 115,183 votes -- or 1.67 percent -- have been added to the ballots already tallied.
In the new votes, Abdullah’s share works out at 55,003 or 0.8123 percent. Ahmadzai’s share is 26,237 votes or 0.3874 percent.  
mm/mud