KABUL (Pajhwok): The Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) on Sunday said political pressure and poor management was behind the delay in announcing primary presidential election result, asking the election commissions to provide documented reasons for the delay.
The presidential election was held on September 28 and primary result of the poll was scheduled for October 19, but it was delayed for a week due to some technical problems in the process, according to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).
TEFA in a statement received by Pajhwok Afghan News expressed concern over the delay in election result announcement and said they had found political pressure and poor management of election commission behind the issue.
“TEFA is concerned that this situation would confront the final result with problems and increase doubts about transparency of the poll,” the source said.
It said the delay could also cause presidential candidates not to accept the result, erode public trust in the process and also push other election processes into postponement.
“TEFA asks election commissions to provide documented reasons for the delay in announcing primary election result and move their programs according to the schedule as well as not further pave ground for more doubts on the presidential election,” the statement said.
The source said TEFA hired 5,200 professional and neutral election observers to monitor election commissions’ activities on a daily basis.
“Our findings show the IEC had preparations for more than nine million voters but the number of voters participated in the presidential election was lower than two million,” TEFA said.
Mds/ma