Afghanistan Election Results On Hold for at Least Two Days

By Steve Herman

Kabul
27 August 2009

Afghanistan's voters are going to have to wait a bit longer to receive
further results of ballot counting from last week's presidential
election.

Results
from Afghanistan's disputed presidential election are in a further
state of limbo. The organization tabulating the votes says no further
returns will be made public until Saturday, at the earliest.

The
Independent Election Commission has announced no reason for the delay. 
But one official with the IEC acknowledges the counting is proceeding
slower than expected because of computer software glitches.

The
senior project officer for the team in Kabul from Democracy
International, Bill Gallery, tells VOA News this should not be a cause
for alarm.

"We are not super concerned about a couple days
delay," he said. "We have been looking at the numbers released so far
and there is some information there to use. We would be worried if
they delayed any further. But I think this could just be an
administrative issue."

It has been one week since the election. 
Results from only 17 percent of the polling stations have been
released. Those returns show incumbent President Hamid Karzai with 43
percent of the vote. His closest rival among a long list of
challengers, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, has 34 percent.


Mr. Karzai will need more than 50 percent of the total to avoid a run-off election next month.

A
number of the contenders have alleged widespread irregularities. The
Election Complaints Commission, partly appointed by the United Nations,
says it is prioritizing dozens of serious allegations for
investigation.

Violence involving Taliban insurgents who vowed to disrupt the election is continuing.

Officials
in Paktika province say a regional Taliban commander and five of his
followers have been captured following a fierce six-hour gun battle at
a hospital there.

The Taliban leader, named as Mullah Muslim,
had gone to the medical facility to seek treatment. Provincial
officials say the commander had been wounded during election-day
violence.

U.S. and Afghan forces, tipped off that the Taliban had entered the hospital, responded with troops and a helicopter gunship.

Officials say 12 insurgents and one soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force died in the clash.