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So far they have received 285 formal complaints. With the exception of one complaint that was lodged at a counting centre, all other complaints were lodged at polling stations and have been received at the counting centres along with the ballot boxes. Some 180 of these complaints either do not require action or action has been taken, or action is currently being taken.
Most of the 285 complaints (45.3 percent) are about the application of the indelible ink. Some 13 percent are of a general nature about the process in general and in that group they are sometimes not clearly described. 8.4 percent of the complaints are about polling personnel and 8.07 percent are not really complaints, but compliments to the JEMB and to the electoral process itself. Some 3.4 percent of the complaints were made by voters to indicate that water and food had not been made available. Other complaints were about shortage of polling material (6.9 percent), multiple voting or under-aged voters (5 percent), and insufficient voter education (4 percent).
Some of you called us this morning seeking clarification on the groups of people who had been rescued. There was some confusion with the earlier situation that happened last week when a UN helicopter was forced to land on the 12th of October in Badakhshan as well, and yes indeed we are talking about two different groups. The crew and passengers of the 12 October accident were rescued on the 13th of October by a UN helicopter, after having received supplies, on the afternoon of the 12th of October, that were air dropped by the Coalition forces.
As the 12 October UN helicopter crashed, four Electoral Secretariat personnel and two policemen, who had been sent up to the mountains to help staff polling centres were forced to remain up there with the four ballot boxes from those polling centres.
Weather conditions and the altitude delayed sending another helicopter to pick them up. The situation became more dramatic in the last two days, as the electoral personnel reported that one of them could be suffering from hypothermia. To respond to what was then feared to be an emergency situation, the Coalition parachuted a rescue team on Monday, the 18th of October, to meet up with the group and provide them with immediate assistance.
Yesterday morning, the second part of the operation happened. ISAF helicopters rescued the electoral team, their two police escorts, and the ballot boxes. The Coalition team that had been parachuted the day before also flew back in the same helicopter.
Everyone flew initially to Kunduz and from there they either went or are going back to their bases, but the ballot boxes remain in Kunduz because that is where the counting centre for the northeastern region is located. So an epic situation that fortunately had a happy ending, and we are very grateful to both ISAF and the Coalition for having brought the team back as well as the ballot boxes.
Thank you very much; we will now take your questions.
[Mr. Sultan Baheen, JEMB Spokesman, briefed in Dari]
Questions & Answers:
Question: When the first vote counting was started in the eight counting centres, normally between five to six percent of the votes were counted each day, but these days this number has increased to 15 or 16 percent, what is the reason behind this?
Spokesman: I am very happy that you noticed that. This is the first time elections are happening, first time counting is taking place and we expected, the electoral experts expected, by the beginning of this week - Tuesday, Wednesday, as people gained more experience, more practice, the process would gain speed and that is what we are seeing.
Question: You said the investigation team has visited a counting centre in Kabul and today they have gone to Gardez. I would like to know the result of the investigation and when that result will be publicized?
Spokesman: I also would like to know the result, but I am afraid we will have to wait. The visit to the counting centres is part of what they have to do. As I mentioned before, they have met the candidates, they are meeting observers - international and domestic - they are collecting all kinds of information and they will have their recommendations to the JEMB, which will be made public. I do not know when, but I think one more week or so perhaps, but do not hold me accountable to that deadline.
Thank you very much.
A few days ago Ray Kennedy, Vice Chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body [JEMB], briefed you on the complaint procedures. We thought today to give you some updated statistics on those complaints coming in through the regular JEMB complaint procedures.
I would also like to give you an update on the activities of the Panel of Experts. Their investigators have been to the Kabul Counting Centre and today they are at the Gardez Counting Centre. The reason they are only visiting these two centres is because the ballot boxes that were quarantined, are ballot boxes from these two counting centres. You might recall that when there was a briefing here by Craig [Jenness] and Staffan [Darnolf] from the expert panel they indicated to you that the complaints involving ballot boxes were from Kabul, Ghazni, Wardak, and Logar.
I would like to express, on behalf of the United Nations and the JEMB, how grateful we are for the combined rescue operation conducted by the Coalition and ISAF on Monday and Tuesday. Four Electoral Secretariat personnel and two policemen, who were up in the mountains of Badakhshan to help run polling centres on voting day in Longer and Buzi Gonbat, in the Wakhan corridor, were rescued as a result of this combined operation.
Tomorrow will be the last day of this facility as a media and results centre. We will have a briefing tomorrow [Thursday, October 21] at 3pm but subsequent briefings will be elsewhere. We will inform you of the new location tomorrow. The next briefing will be on Sunday [October 24]. The partial results will continue to be available on the Electoral website (www.afg-electionresults.org). And of course you can reach Mr. Baheen [Spokesperson for the JEMB] and I via the telephone and I hope that TV Afghanistan will continue to bring live coverage of the briefings to the people of Afghanistan.