KABUL: The Afghan election commission has delayed the results of the presidential elections held on April 5 for two days due to fraud investigations and will now release on Saturday.
The results were expected to be released on Thursday but the Independent Election Commission (IEC) director Ziaulhaq Amarkhil said that they would be postponed until at least Saturday to ensure they are not tainted by fraud.
“Committed to determining results that reflect the will of Afghan voters, the IEC is conducting thorough investigations of all irregularities,” the IEC said in a press release.
“While these investigations have delayed the process slightly, they are critical to the accuracy and integrity of final results,” it added.
The latest partial results of the April 5 elections to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai show that former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah is in the lead with 44.4 percent ahead of his rival Ashraf Ghani with 33.2 percent as more than half of the votes have been counted.
If no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the vote, Afghans will have to go to the polls in a runoff on May 28.
