The vote auditing process for this year’s runoff election came to a grinding halt due to disputes between the two candidate teams, but resumed after 23 hours on Sunday at 3:00pm.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the audit was expected to continue until 6:00pm, but that it was halted at 3:00pm on Saturday when the two candidates’ representatives disagreed about the status of non-standard signs like signatures on ballot papers.
“Based on the decisions of the commission, the audit was expected to continue until 6:00 pm yesterday, but the process halted because of some disputes between the candidates’ teams,” IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said on Sunday.
Observers have weighed into the dispute between the candidates, arguing the signatures are insufficient in judging the validity of a vote.
“There was a dispute as to wether the signature violated the secrecy of the ballot and it was agreed by both of the candidates organizations that the IEC’s original judgment was the correct one, if there is a signature on the ballots, the ballots will not be counted as part of this process and I think it was the correct conclusion to be reached,” Democracy International chief Glenn Cowan told TOLOnews.
It is said that the process resumed after around six hours of negotiations between the candidates and the United Nations (UN).
“We had a meeting with Dr. Abdullah’s team and the problem is now solved,” said Daoud Sultanzoy, a member of Ghani’s team.
“The disagreement was about signatures on the ballots, but it was decided that ballot papers with signatures are invalid,” Abdullah’s team member Amrullah Aman said.