Preliminary results of Afghan legislative votes postponed for second time

The announcement of preliminary results of Afghanistan's second parliamentary elections held on Sept. 18, has been postponed for a second time.

The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC), just hours before the expected time on Sunday, informed media outlets that the results would be announced on Wednesday.

In accordance with electoral timeline, the results were expected on Oct. 9, however, the IEC has delayed it till Sunday, but again postponed it till Wednesday.

The repeated postponement is taking place amid fraud allegations and vote-rigging.

Ahmad Zia Rafat, the spokesman for Election Complaints Commission (ECC), on Saturday told reporters that the watchdog body has been adjudicating over 4,500 complaints, including marking faked voting cards and irregularities during the polls.

The Sept. 18 voting was the second Afghan parliamentary election since the collapse of Taliban regime in 2001, which was held amid Taliban threat to elect members of the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, or Lower House of Afghanistan, for the next five years.

Source: Xinhua