Two officials from the independent election commission have informed a news agency on October 17 that the preliminary results in Afghanistan’s presidential election will be delayed beyond October 19 deadline. They said it will probably be delayed for more than a week, asserting uncertainty. The country has had a chaotic election battling poll-related violence that killed dozens, low voter turnout and fraud accusations. Thousands are yet to be registered under the electronic database in the war-torn country.

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Poll results delayed as the data entry is slow: officials

Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi, a spokesman of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan said the news agency that the data entry of the voters to the main database of the commission has not been completed yet. As they give importance to transparency, they don't want to sacrifice it for speed. The data entry has taken longer than was expected, he added. The official said that in 2019 about 1.8 million voters have been added to the database, he added which amounts to about a quarter of the electorate. 2.6 million Afghans have reportedly voted this year. It was not immediately clear why the database had not been updated before the elections.

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Another anonymous official said that the data entry is slow and so the result will be announced with a delay of one week to ten days unable to state the precise length of the delay.

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Chaotic scenes in Afghanistan elections

In September, the United Nations said that about 85 civilians have been reported dead and more than 370 wounded in Afghanistan in and around the time of elections. Both the contenders, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory before the results are officially out. The entire nation has reportedly converted into a hub for Taliban insurgents since being ousted from power nearly two decades ago. The insurgent group defies the elections calling Ghani a 'puppet' of US, who is the group's staunch enemy.

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