Complaints

September 21, 2010

News Summary - September 21, 2010

In today’s news: UK transfers responsibility for Sangin district, Helmand, to the US Marines. Defense officials tell the WSJ they don’t expect dramatic signs of progress before December. Helicopter crash reported in southern Afghanistan. Pres. Karzai says it’s “too early to judge” success of the election. ECC reports approximately 700 election complaints filed as of Sunday.

September 20, 2010

News Summary - September 20, 2010

In today’s news: IEC says it has received tallies of nearly 4 million votes cast, with 22 provinces having completed counting at local levels. New NATO figures report 485 violent incidents on Election Day; IEC confirms that three kidnapped workers in Balkh were found dead yesterday. ECC says it has received 126 written complaints and 1,300 verbally. US administration continues to reassess its anti-corruption efforts.

September 19, 2010

Timeline for 2010 Wolesi Jirga Elections

Yesterday, Afghan voters in all 34 provinces went go to the polls to elect the 249 members of the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga. While election day has passed, the counting and tally process is expected to continue through October before final results are announced.

September 16, 2010

ECC Press Conference Sept 16 Notes

The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) held a press conference today with its spokesman, Commissioner Ahmad Zia Rafat. Here are our notes:

Candidates

September 05, 2010

ECC Press Conference Notes, Sep 5 2010

October 19, 2009

Detailed Breakdown of ECC Decisions from 18 October 2009

Yesterday, the ECC issued three orders, each dealing with a different aspect of their post-election investigations. Respectively, the three separate orders related to 1) Priority A complaints (i.e.

October 07, 2009

Sample Audit Ongoing

As an audit of a sample of suspicious polling stations continues, the prospect of a runoff election is still unclear

The ECC and IEC are currently conducting an audit of a sample of the ballot boxes which meet the criteria defined in the September 8 ECC audit order. 3,498 polling stations meet the audit criteria, but they have decided only to audit a sample of these - roughly ten percent. They’ve separated the ballot boxes into six categories and are auditing a total of 358 ballot boxes.

Six audit teams are responsible for conducting the entire audit.

September 10, 2009

ECC Invalidates Votes from 86 Polling Stations in Ghazni, Paktika, and Kandahar

Today, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) issued a number of decisions concerning investigations conducted on polling stations in Ghazni, Paktika, and Kandahar provinces. In total, the ECC invalidated the results for 86 polling stations, 78 for the Presidential poll and 8 for the Provincial Council poll.

Of the polling stations affected by today’s ECC decisions, only two have been tallied and included in the IEC’s preliminary results. 447 ballots were cast in the two polling stations in Ghazni province, all in favor of President Karzai.

September 09, 2009

Focus Shifting to ECC Ordered Audit

With the IEC tallying process nearly complete, the focus now shifts to the ECC ordered audit of suspicious polling stations.

Yesterday, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) released preliminary results from 91.6 percent of polling stations with 54.1 percent of valid votes cast in favor of President Hamid Karzai for a total of 2,959,093 votes. The preliminary results show Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, President Karzai’s main competitor, receiving 28.3 percent of valid votes for a total of 1,546,490 votes.

September 07, 2009

Ambiguity Highlights Problems with Afghan Electoral Framework

The ambiguity surrounding the outcome of Afghanistan’s August 20 presidential poll once again highlights the major impediments to a robust and transparent Afghan electoral framework.

More than two weeks after Afghanistan’s August 20 presidential and provincial council elections the results remain unclear. At this stage, with the results of more than 75 percent of polling stations reported, the incumbent, President Hamid Karzai, is well ahead of his competitors but still short of the 50 percent mark required to avoid a second round runoff.