Afghan Recount Vote...Starting to Remind of Florida 2000 Election...

[KoKo]

"Count all the Votes" SOS John Kerry has been their Twice...but allegations over ballot fraud still linger...

I know...it's a big country...and it's difficult.

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Stab in the Back for Painful Afghanistan Election Process?
By Karlos Zurutuza

KABUL, Aug 20 2014 (IPS) - A knife fight late Tuesday among several auditors at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) still inspecting the results of the presidential elections held in mid-June could be the stab in the back for what has been a painful election process.

The vote audit process was resumed following a three-hour delay on Wednesday, a commission official said.

Two months after Afghans voted in a second runoff for election of the country’s president, ballots are being recounted amid growing questions on who is really arbitrating the process.
"What we see is what we expected: an endless fight between the two sides as each ballot is disputed” – Thijs Berman, chief observer of the European Union

The four corrugated iron barracks east of Kabul that constitute the centre of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan in which the 22,828 ballot boxes are piled up, have become the Afghan insurgency´s main target.

In the June 14 runoff, presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai won 56.44 percent of the votes, while his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, received 43.56 percent, despite having been the most voted candidate in the first runoff on April 5.

The turnout was equally surprising: eight million out of 12 million voters, an unlikely figure given that most polling stations were reportedly empty on election day.

With Abdullah Abdullah’s allegations of massive fraud having put the electoral process on the brink of collapse, the two candidates were persuaded to agree to a full ballot recount.

In an audit that started mid-July, the ballot boxes are being examined by a team formed by auditors of both candidates and members of the IEC. Afghan as well as European Union observers are also on the spot in a process closely monitored by U.N. assistants.

“I have spent the last two weeks taking part in this massive farce,” Abdullah Abdullah´s auditor Munir Latifi told IPS. “The United Nations and the Independent Electoral Commission are working together so that Ghani takes the win but there´s nobody supporting us,” he said before returning to his seat.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/08/stab-in-the-back-for-painful-afghanistan-election-process/


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August 14, 2014
Afghan election in deadlock after runoff vote

Afghanistan’s presidential election is in a deadlock after a runoff vote, raising concerns about the country’s future.

Afghan voters cast their ballots for the first round of elections on April 5, with a runoff vote on June 14 between former finance minister Ashraf Ghani and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Ghani received a majority of votes in the runoff but faces charges of fraud from his opponent.

Secretary of State John Kerry has visited Afghanistan twice to intervene, but the election remains deadlocked.

The election has called into question whether the Afghan government will be stable by the time American troops plan to withdraw. President Obama said in May that he plans to withdraw all but 9,800 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, with a full troop withdrawal planned for the end of 2016.

The troops that remain after this year will serve in advisory roles and would no longer patrol Afghan territory, Obama said.

A disagreement over vote counting could lead to a split of power between the two candidates or a three-way split between the candidates and the religious fundamentalist group, the Taliban.

A power struggle would not benefit either of the candidates, James Dobbins, former special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said.

In spite of the election struggle, Afghanistan is on a positive track toward democracy, Dobbins said.

“Afghanistan spent the previous 30 years in the midst of a civil war, and it’s made remarkable progress over the last 10,” he said.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/daily_videos/afghan-election-in-deadlock-after-runoff-vote/