Afghans Field 4,000 Election Complaints

The Independent Election Commission is dealing with almost 4,000 complaints about the Afghan parliamentary elections last week, in which 4.3 million people voted despite explicit threats of violence from the Taliban. Most of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces have finished counting ballots and have sent partial results to the capital. The official results will be announced October 30, with a preliminary announcement to be made October 9. Charges of ballot shortages, multiple voting, and proxy voting have been made; more than half the complaints concern irregularities on election day. Militants killed 22 people as Afghans headed to the polls. In last year’s vote, more than a million ballots were found to be fraudulent.