Afghan presidential election votes audit completed

PanARMENIAN.Net - An audit of votes from Afghanistan's disputed presidential election has been completed, officials say, but results will not be made public for days, BBC News reports.

Candidate Abdullah Abdullah withdrew observers from the audit, amid fraud concerns. His rival Ashraf Ghani also withdrew his team after a UN request.

Both camps believe they won June's poll and both alleged widespread fraud.

The two candidates had agreed to form a government of national unity but have so far failed to reach a deal.

Auditing all eight million votes cast in the June run-off began in July and analysts say there are still a few days of data entry and a 72-hour complaints process to take into account before the election result can be announced.

According to the Afghan Analysts Network research organisation, just a few hundred boxes of votes have been completely invalidated so far but many more could be partly invalidated.

The final result could be announced on Sept 10, according to reports.

Abdullah was the frontrunner in the first round in April but did not secure an outright majority. Preliminary results after a second round in June put Ghani ahead.

Abdullah's team alleges hundreds of thousands of ballots are fraudulent and should be thrown out.