U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Saturday during his visit to Kabul that Afghanistan will undertake an audit of the votes cast in the presidential election run-off on June 14. The audit will determine which candidate succeeds Hamid Karzai. Preliminary election results released show former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani in the lead with 56.44 percent of the vote and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah trailing behind with 43.56 percent. Abdullah challenged the legitimacy of the election, alleging fraud and questioning the Independent Election Commission’s preliminary election results. Kerry arrived in Kabul on Friday to meet with the candidates regarding the political transition. In a joint press conference, Ghani emphasized Afghanistan’s need for “the most intensive and extensive audit possible to restore faith [in the election].”
Abdullah agreed, and on Saturday, Kerry announced that “both candidates have committed to participate in and abide by the results of the largest, most comprehensive possible audit. Every single ballot that was cast will be audited, 100 percent, all eight million. This is the strongest possible signal by both candidates of the desire to restore legitimacy to the process and to Afghan democracy.”
An unnamed senior U.S. administration official confirmed Monday that the audit began on Sunday. “The first significant part of that was that the IEC, Afghanistan’s electoral commission, met most notably with the representatives of both parties, which means that both parties have engaged in the process and have embraced the terms of it.”
Full Article: United Nations Assistance Mission to oversee Afghanistan’s presidential election audit – UPI.com.