KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday declared as final the latest UN-proposed criteria for invalidation of suspected votes, saying extra attention would be paid to the remaining two controversial points in order to gain confidence of both the candidates.
The huge audit remained suspended as of Sunday morning and Abdullah’s team remained locked in talks with UN officials over the recount.
Abdullah’s team had threatened to boycott unless the process was changed to probe more deeply into the allegations of fraud and was placed more firmly under international control.
However, the IEC announced the audit would resume without Abdullah’s participation. The election spokesman said he hoped the campaign would decide to rejoin the audit, adding that “the door . . . is open to them.”
Five hours later, UN officials announced that Abdullah had agreed to rejoin the audit Monday after the United Nations “clarified” certain details and agreed to make any needed changes in the method of invalidating ballots, a key demand of Abdullah.
IEC spokesman Noor Muhammad Noor told journalists on Monday the electoral body was legally bound to ensure that the audit was swift and transparent in line with the agreed mechanism.
Noor added that the UN had proposed the criteria for invalidation of suspected votes based on recommendations of the candidates and their technical teams before presenting it to the IEC, which had approved the method without any change.
He said the audit process was under way right now in accordance with the latest checklist and the UN-proposed criteria.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Missions for Afghanistan UNAMA in a statement said an agreement had been reached with Abdullah’s team on the checklist.
The statement said the UN held intense negotiations with Abdullah and his technical experts as requested by him.
It said they discussed the UN proposal for the recount and invalidation of votes as part of the ongoing comprehensive audit.
The parties agreed on following points:
1. The agreement on items 12 and 16 of the audit checklist included in the 12 July technical framework agreement is reconfirmed and will be fully implemented during the audit process.
2. The process of adjudication on the findings of the audit will not begin before the end of the week, after technical preparations and data entry of information collected from the audit is undertaken.
Campaign agents and observers will be provided access to these preparatory steps. Further clarifications of invalidation criteria will be made during the course of preparatory process, as needed, before the invalidation process commences
The UNAMA has stated that in cases that ballot boxes were lost, missing, damaged or destroyed an investigation of all relevant information would be conducted including on the basis but not limited to IEC documents. If these investigations reveal no valid proof that a missing ballot box served as an active polling station it will be excluded.
