KABUL - An official of the Independent Election Commission (EC) indicated on Friday the final results of provincial council polls would be announced today (Saturday).

Laila Ihrari, an IEC member, told Pajhwok Afghan News the commission had made the required preparations and the outcome results would be unveiled at a news conference at 2pm.

She linked the delay in announcing the result to technical problems, including a mechanism for vote invalidation, and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission’s failure to send the IEC a list of candidate names.

A member of the watchdog, Wais Barmak, said a joint committee of the two panels had concluded its work on dealing with technical issues in compiling the results. He also hinted at changes in in the initial results.  However, Barmak did not elaborate on the scale of changes.

As many as 2,600 candidates, including 308 women, contested the provincial council elections that were held on April 5, simultaneously with the first round of the presidential ballot.

In the preliminary result announced by the IEC on May 20, 458 candidates were declared successful. The final results, originally scheduled for June 7, were delayed. (Pajhwok)