'Announce Afghan presidential poll result as scheduled'

Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai Saturday called upon the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) to announce the election result according to schedule.

"As per the timetable, the Election Commission should announce the preliminary result of the election July 7, the final result July 22 and the power transfer inauguration Aug 2," Ahmadzai told a press conference here.

He made the remarks while the other contender, Abdullah Abdullah, has suspended his engagement with the Election Commission over alleged fraud and vote rigging during the presidential runoff held June 14.

Abdullah said no decision of the election body is acceptable unless and until all the clean votes are filtered from the fake ones.

However, Ahmadzai said he believes in transparency but reviewing votes should be nationwide, Xinbua reported.

"I strongly believe in transparency and absolutely supporting the transparent process because I am confident that the people voted for me and votes of people must be respected," Ahmadzai said.

"I have legal objection that reviewing the polling sites or recounting the votes should not be one-sided, rather it should be nationwide," he pointed out.

Replying to a query on suspension of engagement with the election commission by his challenger Abdullah, he said: "We cannot accept the change in the timetable of the election's result and anyone who withdraws from the election process, according to the law, should return to the process."

Chairman of the IEC, Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, announced last week that the preliminary result of the presidential poll will be out July 7. However, some officials within the election body, according to media reports, have not ruled out further delay in the schedule.