Officials at the United Nations-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body told an RFE/RL's correspondent today that the delay was due to difficulties in the transportation of ballots to counting centers.

Vote counting was postponed in Kabul, Nangarhar, Kapisa, and Paktika provinces.

Joint Electoral Management Body spokesperson Baheen Sultan Ahmad said: "Eighty per cent of the ballot boxes across Afghanistan have been collected in the counting centers. As regards the delay in some parts of the country, as you know, Afghanistan is very mountainous country and the roads are also in very bad shape. Therefore, in some mountainous provinces, it takes three days to collect all those ballot boxes."

Vote-counting in all 34 provinces was scheduled to begin today.

In regards to counting of the collected ballots in the provinces, the external relations officer for the Joint Electoral Management Body's vote counting center in Kabul Seyed Hamed said: "The votes will arrive in boxes at the counting centers. After we receive the boxes, we will divide them into two categories. If there are some problems with the boxes if they are damaged or the seals on the ballot boxes have been broken, we quarantine them. And then we will investigate why those ballot boxes are in such a condition. Ballot boxes which we receive in [proper condition] are stored [at the counting center] until we start to count the votes."

In the official statement issued today, Chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body Bismillah Bismill said: "We are well prepared for the challenging task of counting the millions of ballot papers. We ask the people of Afghanistan to have patience with us as we conduct this count. With over 7,000 people working hard to count all votes cast on September 18 we hope to announce provisional results before the start of Ramadan in early October."

As far as the logistics is concerned, workers are bringing the votes from Sunday's nationwide polls to counting centers by trucks, helicopters, donkeys and camels.

Initial official results are not expected for about two weeks in the vote for the 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga parliament and for 34 provincial councils.

Early estimates by electoral officials have put the voter turnout out at slightly more than 50 percent of about 12.4 million people who were registered to cast ballots.

This is lower than the nearly 70 percent turnout in last October's presidential election, but Afghan and international officials have nevertheless praised the parliamentary and local polls as a success.

(RFE/RL/JEMB/Agencies)