KABUL - Independent Election Commission (IEC) Chairman Ahmad Yusef Nuristani on Saturday expressed his satisfaction with the level of participation in the presidential runoff, and claimed fraud was noticeably less prevalent than it was during the first round.

“Fraud was less, because observers of the two candidates were present along with media and international observers and civil society institutions and the IEC staff who were directed to prevent it,” Nuristani said.

Officials from the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) also spoke of lesser irregularities during the second round, citing the fewer number of formal complaints they had received on Election Day. However, there remains a 48-hour window for complaints to be filed, and the ECC expects many more to come before everything is said and done.   

Nuristani, Afghanistan's top election official, applauded public participation, and said that it stood to show that Afghans are committed to the democratic process. “Public participation was high in the runoff, just like the previous round, and people proved their commitment to democracy and elections,” he said.

However, most estimates put the turnout on Saturday significantly lower than that of the first round, which saw well over six million Afghans cast votes. The fact that there was no need for extended time for voting, as there was in April, supports those estimations.

Nevertheless, like the first round, there were ballot shortages in a number of provinces around the country on Saturday, including Kabul, Kandahar, Samangan and Badakhshan, among others.

Nuristani defended the commission's handling of those shortages, though, maintaining the sites that lacked adequate ballots were quickly restocked and continued to service voters. The commission received criticism after the first round for failing to respond to shortages, which ultimately resulted in a significant amount of voters being unable to cast ballots. (Tolonews)