Afghan Independent Election Commission announced on Saturday the preliminary results for 357 provincial lawmakers, while there was still no exact date for final results of hotly disputed presidential election. Nearly 3,340 Afghan candidates participated in August 20 provincial council elections - held together with the presidential poll - to compete for 420 seats in the country's 34 provinces.
A total of 251 men and 106 women in 30 provinces were named "the successful candidates for provincial council seats," IEC said in a statement. Results from four other provinces located in eastern and southern regions were not yet available, it said.
The IEC said that candidates could lodge their complaints with the UN-backed Election Complaints Commission (ECC) if they did not accept the outcome, insisting that the final results could only be announced once all complaints are adjudicated.
The voter turnout for country's second presidential election was 37.83 per cent of more than 15 million eligible voters. Afghan officials believe a large percentage of voters were scared away by Taliban attacks. A new United Nations report released on Friday said more security incidents took place on August 20 than any other day since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
The presidential election has been marred by widespread allegations of fraud and intimidation of voters. The European Union observer team has said that a quarter of all votes cast during the elections were either fraudulent or suspicious.
The preliminary results announced by the IEC earlier this month showed President Hamid Karzai a clear winner with 54.6 per cent of the votes, well ahead of his chief challenger, former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, who garnered 28 per cent.
But no candidate could be declared winner until all the allegations of fraud are investigated by the ECC, which is recounting samples from 10 per cent of the voting stations and is authorised to throw out tainted ballots. If enough votes are discounted and Karzai's share of the vote falls below 50 per cent, the incumbent would face a run-off with Abdullah. The IEC has said that the final results must be released in ten days in order to allow the commission to prepare for a second round of voting before the arrival of winter snows.
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