Demonstrations by candidates and their supporters shut down Sunday two centres counting ballots from Afghanistan's vote last month for the first parliament in more than three decades, the electoral authority said.
A centre in the eastern city of Jalalabad closed after it was stormed by hundreds of candidates who demanded ballot boxes put into quarantine because of suspected fraud be opened for counting, an election official in the city said.
The counting centre in the northern city of Kunduz was also closed after a similar demonstration Saturday, election authority spokesman Aleem Siddique said.
"We will reopen when we can ensure that public order is maintained," he said.
The country's 32 counting centres have finished tallying the bulk of the votes cast on September 18 and are going through quarantined ballot boxes.
Ballots from about one percent of the 26,000 polling stations have been excluded because of irregularities, Siddique said. Those from under 300 others were still under review, he said.
Nearly 5,800 people stood in the elections for a 249-member national assembly and 34 provincial councils. Disturbances had been expected once most candidates realised they would not win seats.
Final results are expected by the end of the month.
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