Most complaints on Afghan elections concerned voter-marking ink, UN says

Most of the 285 formal complaints about Afghanistan's election concern ink used to mark voters, the UN mission in the country said today.

For about 180 of the complaints, action has either been taken or has started, or is not required, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said at a press briefing in the capital Kabul.

More than 45 per cent of the complaints to the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) concerned the application of indelible ink, he said. Other grievances were of a general nature about the process itself, dealt with polling personnel, a shortage of polling material, multiple voting, under-age voters or insufficient voter education.

Meanwhile, the three-member panel of experts looking into the complaints were at a counting centre in Gardez, where ballot boxes that were deemed problematic were isolated. They have already visited the station in Kabul.