The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Friday announced that 60 percent of the ballot boxes from around the country have arrived to the central IEC headquarters in Kabul, adding that no harm has been done to the boxes.
The boxes were transferred to the capital with the cooperation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"The remaining 40 percent of the boxes are either already on the way or ready to be transferred," IEC Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said. "There are no reports of any damages."
The ballots are audited in at least three sites at the IEC headquarters. Reports indicate that only 1,360 ballot boxes have been audited over the past nine days out of roughly 23,000 ballot boxes. IEC has pledged to speed up the process and audit at least 1,000 boxes a day.
“You are well aware that the election commission cooperates with several organs. About 927 observers—including 552 international observers and 331 national observers—are already present in the commission,” Noor added. "We have a total of 1,810 observers."
Since the beginning of the comprehensive audit nine days ago, the procedure had faced quite a few challenges along the way because of the lack of clear-cut criteria. But it is said that the process is now running smoothly since the United Nations (UN) proposal presented to both parties on Thursday.
“The process is moving forward in a satisfactory manner,” a member of Abdullah Abdullah's camp, Abdul Sattar Murad, said. "There are not many international observers, but the observers from the two camps have helped the process move forward."
Ghani-Ahmadzai’s team has also expressed optimism about the process.
“We are confident that the two camps can progress in harmony,” a member of Ghani-Ahmadzai's camp, Haleem Fedayee, said.
It is said that the IEC will increase its working teams to 100 in order to pick up momentum in the audit process. IEC teams will go on holiday for the first two days of Eid, but will resume on the third day of Eid.