Afghanistan's election commission says more time is needed to recount the votes in September's presidential election,further delaying the release of the preliminary results.

More than 10 candidates, including incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and his administration's number-two, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, participated in the election, which is held every five years. The preliminary results were to be released in October.

But the election commission said it needed to recount the votes due to problems with a biometric identification system designed to prevent voter fraud.

A commission official told NHK on Thursday that 26 of 34 provinces have recounted the votes, but that the others have not begun the process.

The official said more time is needed to recount the votes to ensure that the election was fair and transparent.

Some candidates claim that fraud occurred in the voting process.

nhk