Claims of premature victory undermine performance of Afghan electoral commissions

Afghans voted in presidential election amid security threat and fear of violence on Saturday, even as the Taliban insurgents had warned to attack polling centers.

Hours after the first round of presidential election closed, a number of campaigners of the two large field candidates began to claim victory, publishing figures and result sheets from various polling centers on social media.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) asked all Afghan social media users and Afghan voters to refrain publishing unofficial figures about election result.