Afghan election body on Wednesday announced final results of the parliamentary elections held Sept. 18.
"After completion of the examinations of all the complaints, today Wednesday I am announcing the final results of the parliamentary elections and congratulate all those who have found their way to the new parliament," chief of Independent Election Commission (IEC) Fazal Ahmad Manawi told a press conference.
He also added that the results announced Wednesday covered 33 out of the country's 34 provinces and the result of the remaining one province, Ghazni, would be announced within week due to technical problems. However did not give more details.
The southern Ghazni province is among the provinces where Taliban militants are active and according to the chief election commissioner Manawi only three votes had been cast in Andar district due to security reasons.
Meantime, a local official in Ghazni province on the condition of anonymity said that all the 13 seats allocated to Ghazni province in the Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament had been won by ethnic Hazara and to ensure ethnic balanced representation, some circles are advocating for re-election there.
Preliminary result of the election was announced on Oct. 20.
Meantime, the election body's chief utterly rejected any allegations leveled by defeated candidates, saying the IEC has discharged its responsibilities in line with the law.
He also added that more than 2,500 candidates had contested the elections to secure a seat in the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament.
"It was impossible to have one seat for each candidate," he noted.
He made these remarks while dozens of defeated candidates have questioned the transparency of the elections and called for holding re-elections, a demand rejected by the election commissioner Manawi, saying we would not hold fresh election.
Afghanistan's second parliamentary election since the collapse of Taliban regime nine years ago was held on Sept. 18 amid tight security and Taliban threat.
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