Tally continues in Afghan presidential election, over 1 million votes counted

More than one million votes have been counted as tallying in Saturday's presidential election has been continuing, Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Sunday.

"According to initial figures, 1,051,998 voters cast their votes in 2,597 polling centres out of 4,905 polling centres where election materials were dispatched," the IEC said in a statement cited by Xinhua news agency.

The IEC initially planned to hold polls in 5,373 centres across the country, but many polling sites did not open due to security threats and Taliban attacks.

Over 9.4 million eligible voters registered to cast their votes during the polling. However, thousands of voters were deprived to vote as election workers could not find their names in voters' registration lists and biometric verification devices.

Fourteen out of the 18 registered candidates, including incumbent Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, contested for the presidency with a five-year term.

Preliminary results of the poll will be announced on October 19 and the final results are expected on November 7, according to the election timetable.