KABUL (Pajhwok): Three political parties on Sunday demanded that non-biometric votes cast in the September 28 presidential polls should be counted, but the Independent Election Commission (IEC) rejected their demand as illegal.
The primary result of the September 28 polls in which 16 candidates took part is expected to be announced on October 19 while the final result would be announced on November 7.
Addressing reporters here, heads of the Hezb-e-Refa Melli, Hezb-e-Harakat Islami and Jabha-e-Melli Nejat demanded non-biometric votes be counted as well.
Mohammad Hassan Jafari, head of the Hizb-e-Refa Melli, said most of the voters used non-biometric ballots because in some polling stations biometric devices did not work.
“They are the people of Afghanistan and have the right to participate in deciding the future of the country, their votes should be respected,” he said.
Syed Mohammad HadiHadi, head of the Harakat Islami, demanded that non-biometric votes should be counted as valid.
He said people should accept the election result and failing candidates should not mislead the masses like the previous elections.
Atiqullah Khosiwal, representative of the Jabha-e-Melli, announced his party’s support to the State Builder team and said the IEC had taken no sides so far. He also demanded non-biometric votes to be counted.  He stressed candidates who lost elections should accept the result.
But Merza Mohammad Haqparast, spokesman for the IEC, insisted that votes used through biometric system were acceptable as demanded by the law.
nh/m

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